19 September 2025 – The so far rather unsuccessful EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič recently gave a very confused interview to the political magazine EURACTIV under the headline “EU wants US onside for ‘very strong’ steel protections, says trade chief”. Why we consider the interview, which has been online since yesterday, confused is explained here on the basis of the facts. Raw material prices continue to trend sideways on Friday.
- Raw material prices continue to trend sideways on Friday
- Trade Commissioner: EU wants US on board for "very strong" steel protections
- Šefčovič: EU and the US were facing the same challenge of "global overcapacity"
- Fact check: The EU has the world's second highest overcapacity in steel production
- EU is seeking close cooperation with the US government
- Fact check: Who exactly is supposed to negotiate this cooperation?
- Is China the main target of the new measure?
- Fact check: Is China flooding the EU market with cheap steel?
- Šefčovič: "We lost 60 million tonnes of our production capacity since 2008"
- Fact check: The European Union still has around 206 million tonnes of crude steel capacity
Raw material prices continue to trend sideways on Friday
Raw material prices in Asia also moved steadily sideways on Friday. Base metals showed either no movements at all or only marginal fluctuations up or down. Iron ore prices on the Singapore Exchange were slightly positive today and the week is likely to end with an average iron ore price of around USD 106 per tonne.
Trade Commissioner: EU wants US on board for “very strong” steel protections
The so far rather unsuccessful EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič recently gave a very confused interview to the political magazine EURACTIV under the headline “EU wants US onside for ‘very strong’ steel protections, says trade chief“. Why we consider the interview confused can be easily shown by the facts.
Šefčovič: EU and the US were facing the same challenge of “global overcapacity”
Šefčovič told EURACTIV that “we” would adopt a very strict trade defence measure by mid-October and that the EU and the US were facing the same challenge of “global overcapacity”.
Fact check: The EU has the world’s second highest overcapacity in steel production
Fact check: The EU has the world’s second highest overcapacity in steel production. In 2014 this amounted to a massive 80 million tonnes of crude steel per year. As there has been little change in the nominal crude steel capacity in the EU in recent years, and following Brexit, overcapacity still stands at more than 70 million tonnes.
The situation is quite different in the United States, which has for years relied on steel imports and in fact does not have sufficient production capacity. By comparison, according to the OECD the EU had around 206 million tonnes of production capacity in 2023, whereas the United States had only 119 million tonnes.
Thus, the two countries face entirely different challenges, and the EU with its considerable overcapacity represents more of a problem for the United States. US President Donald Trump justified the increase in US Section 232 tariffs earlier this year, among other things, with the rise in steel exports from the EU to the United States, which had increased by more than 2 million tonnes in recent years.
The European Commission had announced in its Steel and Metals Action Plan that by the end of the third quarter it would present a possible successor to the EU safeguard measure on steel. Commissioner Šefčovič is therefore referring in the interview to the adoption of a legislative proposal.
EU is seeking close cooperation with the US government
According to the interview, the EU is seeking close cooperation with the US government on this issue.
Fact check: Who exactly is supposed to negotiate this cooperation?
Fact check: Who exactly is supposed to negotiate this cooperation between the EU and the US remains unclear. As does when exactly this will take place. This may be just as well, given that Mr Šefčovič did not exactly shine or deliver great successes in the negotiations on the EU-US trade deal and sometimes returned from Washington empty-handed. In the end, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had to intervene personally. And the agreement concluded is still facing broad rejection and severe criticism in European business and politics.
Is China the main target of the new measure?
Asked whether China was the main target of the new measure, the Trade Commissioner replied evasively, saying that China was not the only target and that all imports would simply be examined.
Fact check: Is China flooding the EU market with cheap steel?
Fact check: The EU repeatedly claims that China is flooding the world market and also the EU with cheap steel. This was also one of the main arguments for the introduction of the EU safeguard measure in 2019 in response to the US Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium of 2018.
Yet European steel imports (Source: EUROSTAT) from China had already fallen by almost 58% between 2015 and 2019 and were still nearly 50% lower in 2024 than in 2015. By comparison: India has almost tripled its steel exports to the EU since 2015 and in 2024 was actually well above those of China.
One question that arises here is what exactly the European Commission and its Commissioner really want. Do they now only want to push back China? Or push back China and favour others? The fact that India is hardly ever mentioned by European officials in connection with steel, even though it exports more steel to Europe than China, is particularly striking. That the EU would also like to conclude a free trade agreement with India by the end of the year makes the silence on Indian steel even more questionable. The EURACTIV reporters mention this only in the closing sentence of the interview – but apparently did not dare to actually ask the question.
Šefčovič: “We lost 60 million tonnes of our production capacity since 2008”
“We lost 60 million tons of our production capacity since 2008,” Šefčovič said. “We are the only region in the world where the production is actually decreasing,” he added.
Fact check: The European Union still has around 206 million tonnes of crude steel capacity
Fact check: According to OECD data, the European Union still has around 206 million tonnes of crude steel capacity. In 2008 this stood at around 224 million tonnes (excluding the UK). Where the Trade Commissioner got his figures from would be interesting to know. Either his figures are wrong or those of the OECD – and as the EU is a member there, one might ask why they have not long since been corrected.
Overall, the interview shows that the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security lacks fact-based content and is dealing instead in half-truths and, in some cases, serious misinformation. For someone responsible for economic security and thereby also for current information on public and industrial economics, this is once again not a good report card. The vita of the socialist politician also reveals a lack of real economic experience and makes it increasingly clear that the EU should reconsider this appointment.
We would also have expected more background research from the reporters at EURACTIV rather than simply parroting the statements of a politician without questioning them. Unfortunately, however, the journalists mostly come from the agriculture and environment desks and have little to do with trade and steel, if at all. We would prefer not to speculate on the political views of the interviewers at this point.
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