Eurometal, the trade body representing European steel distributors and processors, says roughly 300,000 direct steel jobs face immediate risk from subsidized Chinese imports. The group is staging a coffin-laden protest in Brussels as it pushes for tougher trade barriers.
Europe's manufacturing base is shrinking under Chinese import pressure. The trade body's president, Alexander Julius, has called the situation a "colonisation" of European industry by Chinese component manufacturers.
Job losses stretch far beyond steel
The 300,000 at-risk steel jobs are only part of a much larger picture. Eurometal estimates over 13 million direct jobs sit at risk across European manufacturing. The group also puts indirect employment at risk at roughly 65 million jobs, with the steel sector alone supporting an estimated 2.5 million positions through its supply chain.
Safeguard measures introduced in 2018 were meant to slow cheap imports, but factory closures and production cuts have continued, spreading from steel into automotive and chemical manufacturing. The automotive supply sector alone could lose approximately 350,000 jobs over the next five years. That decline is driven by a cost disadvantage of up to 35% against Chinese competitors.
Brussels tightens trade tools in response
New steel import quotas for 2025-2026 cut overall allocations by 47%. Tariffs above those quotas have doubled to 50%. China's tariff-free steel allocation has also been slashed by two-thirds.
Eurometal coordinated a 2026 call-to-action that drew support from over 350 companies and 40 national associations, with demands that extend beyond trade barriers into energy policy and broader industrial strategy. Previous safeguards fell short partly because they were calibrated too conservatively, and Chinese exporters found workarounds by routing products through third countries or shifting into product categories outside protected classifications.
Source: Eurometal via Crypto Briefing
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