27 March 2025 – Steel crisis in Germany or just a system with a method to collect state aid? US government wants to introduce car import tariffs of 25%.
Steel crisis or the standard formula once again?
In Germany, a crisis in the steel industry continues to be vehemently pushed through all media channels. One recent example is a well-known German stainless steel plant that specializes in the production of long stainless steel products. According to German media reports, all German jobs at the Swiss parent company’s operations are once again on the line.
If you take a closer look at the reporting on possible redundancies at the Group since 2019, there is a method to this. Back in 2019, it was reported that around 640 employees in Krefeld, for example, would have to fear for their jobs – and that 650 employees in Krefeld would now have to fear for their jobs again in 2025…
No changes to employees since 2019?
So nothing has changed for the 650 employees in Krefeld since at least 2019. While the parent company’s annual report for 2024 speaks of a reduction in employees of 1,362 or a decrease of 15.5%. However, this is largely not due to redundancies, but to the fact that the Group has simply changed its “scope of consolidation”, i.e. its corporate structure. So is the Swiss parent company really cutting jobs or is it just reorganizing itself by spinning off or selling business units?
Calls for state aid are reliable
When it comes to state aid, it is of course always better when steel mills are in crisis – because where a steel mills is said to be in crisis, political support is usually not far away in the form of handshakes and generous aid and subsidies. This is particularly popular in Germany, but also in other EU member states. With these subsidies, which are usually paid out to large corporations that have slipped into crisis through their own fault, the entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized companies in Germany alone could simply take a vacation and have their fixed costs paid for by the state.
Top management gets more pay, 800 employees have to go
Even though the group is expected to make “huge” losses, the CEO and the management will receive a hefty salary increase of 9% and 11% respectively. The reason: Because the losses would have been reduced – while the group claims to have significantly reduced its number of employees. This should sound like a mockery to the 800 employees who are now to leave the company – although the question remains: Whether these employees are really leaving or simply being spun off again or the parts of the company simply being sold.
US government wants to introduce car tariffs of 25%
Yesterday, US President Donald Trump announced that he intends to impose import tariffs of 25% on all vehicles not manufactured in the United States. This was not an entirely surprising announcement, as the US President had already spoken about it on several occasions.
Vietnam reduces import duties
An interesting reaction to new and adjusted US tariffs has been shown by Vietnam in recent weeks, which, in order to reduce its trade deficit with the United States, has reduced various import tariffs, including on LNG and automobiles, in some cases significantly.
In doing so, it obviously wants to mitigate or completely avoid the reciprocal US tariffs announced for April 2. Vietnam seems to have understood how to deal with the US government – and some other regions could certainly take a leaf out of its book. Vietnam has thus done exactly what we have repeatedly proposed to the European Union for some time.
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Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.
