In the United States, the higher Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium have been in force for more than a year. The consequences are now being felt on supermarket shelves: companies in the food industry that depend on imported tinplate for the production of cans are being hit hard. Tinplate has not been produced in sufficient quantities in the United States for years – because it is more attractive for domestic steel producers to manufacture products with higher margins.
Since the can accounts for roughly one third of the cost of a packaged food product, 50% tariffs feed directly into production costs – and, because margins in the food sector are already calculated very tightly, are passed straight on to consumers.
This effect does not only apply in the United States. It applies equally in the European Union.
This one-sided distortion of competition, caused by the simultaneous application of the CBAM and steel tariffs, places an excessive burden on small and medium-sized enterprises. It seems that this is now beginning to be recognised, at least in some quarters, within the European Parliament.
Domestic steel producers are able to enforce their high prices only thanks to trade barriers, without making any contribution whatsoever to the demand side.
The situation is clear: the EU does not need any further market protection. What is urgently needed are measures to dismantle an artificially inflated price level. Otherwise, competitiveness and incomes in the EU will come under even greater pressure; and this in the politically highly sensitive area of basic food supply.
It’s about time the member states finally got the message.
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Thorsten Gerber, CEO Gerber Group, 13 May 2026
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