According to the German Economic Association of Steel, the country’s steel output last year only reached around 0.6 million tons per year. However, approximately 1.3 million tons of steel were indirectly exported to the US, used in the production of vehicles.
If US President Donald Trump increases the tariffs on imported cars significantly, it would be more painful for the German steel industry than the already announced US tariffs of 25 percent on direct steel imports. The reason is that if the domestic automotive industry relocates a larger part of its production to the US, it would require less steel as a semi-finished product in Germany.
Trump hinted at car tariffs of “around 25 percent” in mid-February and confirmed the threat this week. Already, the tariffs on US steel imports have intensified the competition, said Nicole Voigt, a steel expert at the consulting firm BCG, to the Spiegel. “With the elimination of the duty-free quotas for Europe, Germany is now competing more strongly again with producers from India, Taiwan, or Turkey, which did not have any quota limits.