Paris:
The new rates of US President Donald Trump about steel promise to further complicate a strategic industry that has already been represented by Chinese overproduction and the stuttering blast furnaces of Europe.
Recently returned to the White House, the long -standing trade war of the Mercurial Republican will begging a new front on Monday with an expected levy of 25 percent on aluminum and steel imported into the United States.
Trump imposed similar rates during his first term of office to protect American producers who were confronted with what he complained as unfair competition.
Who exports steel to the US?
Global steel production made 1.89 billion tonnes in 2023, according to the latest figures from Handelsbody World Steel.
World leader China's 1.02 billion tons represents more than half of that count, with the United States behind 81 million lagging behind.
In the meantime, the United States imported 26.4 million tons of the alloy in 2023, making it the second largest market for foreign steel market behind the European Union.
Canada is at the top of the list of Favorite Steel Providers of Washington, where, according to the US Department of Trade, the United States imports 5.95 million tonnes of its northern neighbor.
Brazil and the EU followed with 4.08 million and 3.89 million tonnes respectively to the United States, for Mexico at 3.19 million and South Korea at 2.5 million.
However, China exported only around 470,000 tons to the United States.
Why does Trump complain?
Global overproduction of the alloy has led the steel prices to fall in the past year.
While the steel economy of the past half century cycles of shortage and much cycled, it is nowadays confronted with a structural problem of too much steel that is being produced, experts say.
This steel surplus varies around half a billion tonnes, according to the organization for economic cooperation and development.
“The majority comes from China that the world markets are flooding,” a European steel industry figure told AFP on the condition of remain anonymous.
Historically, European and American production capacity was generally balanced and tailored to domestic needs, the source said.
“But in Southeast Asia (production) the question exceeds”.
And new planned steel factories in the region have to add another 100 million tonnes of production capacity – “80 percent of Chinese players” – on top of the existing surplus, they added.
In addition, Beijing has long been suspected of indirectly subsidizing steel production, the fall of prices and placing traditional European and American players on the rear.
As a result, US Steel Undervire has been the subject of a takeover bid from the Japanese rival Nippon Steel, which was blocked by the then President Joe Biden.
With low prices that squeeze profit, the German Thyssenkrupp announced that it will dismiss thousands of people who work on the ovens.
Why does Staal matter?
Steel, so the key to the second industrial revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, remains a strategic industry around the world.
It is the fundamental bar on which many traditional industrial sectors rest.
Just over half of the steel produced in 2023 was still intended for construction, while 12 percent of the rest went to car manufacturers.
Weapon manufacturers, railways and other transport sectors also contain the best consumers of the alloy.
But its use in wind turbines means that steel is also essential for the transition to renewable energy.
It is also necessary to build the data centers that are used to accommodate the enormous amounts of information that are for the development of artificial intelligence.
Does green steel exist?
The production process, where coal is burned to melt steel from iron ore, makes the largest emitter planet -warming greenhouse gases.
Some steel ovens have tried to limit their environment impact by recycling more scrap metal, switching to electric ovens or building gas and hydrogen installations to abolish the use of very polluting coal.
Especially in Europe, huge sums of money would be cast to invent the industry.
But those investments have currently been put on ice because of the impending threat of Trump of a trade war, the global surplus and the declining steel consumption of the continent.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
