Merz backs EU plan to protect steel sector from Chinese imports

The EU strategy mirrors the one embraced by Trump, who imposed 50-percent tariffs to keep out cheap metals from China, the producer of more than half the world's steel. Germany is Europe's top steel producer, and the seventh largest in the world, according to the World Steel Association. "These include, on the one hand, the tariffs imposed by the United States and, on the other hand, changing trade flows, particularly from Asia and especially from China, which are flooding the markets with subsidised steel.