Information request to companies on the United States’ steel and aluminium tariffs and the EU’s countermeasures

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs requests opinions from companies in relation to the increased tariffs for imports and the EU’s possible countermeasures.

On 12 March 2025, the United States imposed additional tariffs of 25% on steel(Link to another website.) and aluminium products(Link to another website.) and certain derivative products. 

The tariffs are applied to all trading partners, including the EU. This means that the tariffs also apply to Finnish companies. The additional US tariffs apply to approximately 28 billion US dollars’ worth of EU exports.

As a countermeasure, the EU is planning to increase the tariffs of goods imported from the United States. The package of countermeasures proposed by the Commission on 12 March includes additional tariffs for goods imported from the US worth EUR 26 billion. The countermeasures are expected to come into force in April. The list of the products subject to the additional EU tariffs is appended herein.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs requests that companies provide their comments on the products included in the list. If your company requests that certain products are taken off the countermeasure list, your response should include detailed grounds for your request.

The responses and any other communications must be submitted by Monday 24 March 2023 at the latest to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ Trade Policy Unit’s Ilkka Saarinen, tel. +358 50 338 4283, ilkka.saarinen(a)gov.fi, or Kristiina Kauppinen, tel. +358 50 575 4013, kristiina.kauppinen(a)gov.fi.

Request for information on any other interests related to US trade

It is possible that the United States will impose tariffs on other products in the near future, in addition to the tariffs mentioned above. The EU’s primary plan is to prevent such tariffs through negotiation. However, the EU is prepared to impose countermeasures if necessary.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs requests information on US trade from companies and stakeholders on particularly important products as follows:

• Particularly important products exported from the EU to the United States (HS 6-digit level)
• Particularly important products imported to the EU from the United States (HS 8-digit level)

Your response should include an explanation of why the products are important for your company and whether the additional tariffs would have unreasonable financial or operative consequences of your company.  Such consequences should be as extensively itemised and described as possible.

The responses must be submitted to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ Trade Policy Unit’s Ilkka Saarinen, tel. +358 50 338 4283, ilkka.saarinen(a)gov.fi, or Kristiina Kauppinen, tel. +358 50 575 4013, kristiina.kauppinen(a)gov.fi, by Thursday 3 April 2025 at the latest.

If you have already provided similar information in 2025, you do not need to send it again.