Trump Tariffs Could Wipe Out Europe's Steel Industry

Europe's steel industry faces being "wiped out" in the face of Donald Trump's prohibitive 50% tariffs, high energy costs and a mountain of cheaper Chinese steel, one of Germany's biggest industrial groups has warned.

- Lisa O'Carroll

Ilse Henne, a board member at the steel, engineering and chemicals group ThyssenKrupp, said the industry faced an existential crisis after the US president's decision last week to double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 25% to 50%.

Asked at the European Policy Centre conference on security in Brussels if she "feared a wipeout", she replied: "Of course."

Henne said: "Steel is at the beginning of the value chain, so you create a lot of instability for all these supply chains that get disrupted that now all of a sudden have to deal with much more expensive steel."

Steel and aluminum are foundational industries, central to making everything from submarines, aircraft and cars to everyday products such as stainless steel cutlery, food mixers and joists in housing.