27 May 2026 – Base metals continued to show stable sideways movement on Wednesday. The EU Commission’s answer to a parliamentary question on steel tariffs and CBAM shows: SMEs are being abandoned.
Base Metals Remain Stable Sideways
Asian base metals also moved largely stable sideways on Wednesday. A similar picture emerged at the start of trading on the European commodities exchange LME. Nickel prices were already just below the USD 19,000 per tonne mark this morning and had briefly crossed it in the meantime.
EU Commission on Steel Tariffs and CBAM: SMEs Are Being Abandoned
Pay Twice, Keep Quiet
From 1 July 2026, 50% tariffs and lower quotas should apply to steel imports into the EU – on top of an already running CBAM regime that concentrates 98% of its coverage on steel and iron products. For large corporations with their own legal and compliance departments, that is just annoying. For a mid-sized steel or metal processor, it is existentially threatening.
The Commission Knows – and Does Nothing
In a written question to the Commission, E-001234/2026, a Member of the European Parliament had explicitly asked a few weeks ago why SMEs had not been exempted from tariffs and quotas – even though the Commission had concrete relief proposals before it. Commissioner Šefčovič’s answer of 26 May 2026 is remarkable in its directness: no exemptions, no differentiation, no date. The regulation applies equally to all companies – just like the previous safeguard. Why the submitted proposals were ignored: Šefčovič does not say a word.
Equal Treatment as a Fig Leaf
“No distinction between companies” sounds like the rule of law. In truth, it is the opposite of proportionality. A company with 20 employees and an annual import volume of 500 tonnes bears the same administrative and financial burden as a corporation – without having the same resources to shoulder it. CBAM alone means: registration obligation, emissions calculation, certificate purchase, reporting obligation. The new steel tariff comes on top. The WTO conformity of this accumulation? In the Commission’s reply, the word “WTO” does not appear even once. That alone speaks volumes about the legality.
Why was there no work here with exemptions for SMEs similar to those under CBAM? The systems would already have been there to set a threshold.
Europe’s Double Standards on Semi-Finished Steel Products
Asked why the 10 million tonnes of steel slab imports per year are covered by CBAM but not by the tariffs, the Commissioner answered only by referring to Article 9(1) of the new regulation: a possible expansion of the product scope would be examined. No date. No criterion. No legal obligation. This is not a policy instrument – it is a sedative and a diversionary tactic.
The Commission repeatedly insists that it listens to SME associations, allegedly even understands their arguments – and then still ignores them in favour of its friends among large corporations, the steel lobby, and NGOs. What is being marketed as an industrial-policy protection measure is, in practice, just another bureaucratic burden programme that hits precisely those companies Europe claims to protect.
Thorsten Gerber, CEO of the Gerber Group, said today: “A perfect example of the fact that, under socialism, small and medium sized businesses and true entrepreneurship are unwanted!”
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