The European Union will apply 25% “rebalancing” tariffs on a range of products imported from the U.S., including seven categories of fasteners, effective June 22, Fastener + Fixing Magazine reports.

The list of products include seven fastener CN codes:

  • 73181410– self tapping screws of iron or steel, other than stainless (not woodscrews)
  • 73181491– Spaced-thread screws or iron or steel, other than stainless
  • 73181499– Self tapping screws of iron or steel other than stainless
  • 73181640– Blind rivet nuts of iron or steel, other than stainless
  • 73181660– Self-locking nuts of iron or steel other than stainless
  • 73181699– Nuts of iron or steel, other than stainless, with inside diameter <=12mm
  • 73181699– Nuts of iron or steel, other than stainless, with inside diameter >12mm

The tariffs are in response to the Section 232 tariffs applied by President Donald Trump to steel and aluminum on the grounds of national security. Announced in March, the tariffs were applied to U.S. allies, including Canada, Mexico, and the EU, on June 1 after an initial month-long exemption.

“The rules of international trade, which we have developed over the years hand in hand with our American partners, cannot be violated without a reaction from our side,” stated EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström.

The EU measures, worth a collective EUR 6.4 billion, will be effective “for as long as the U.S. measures are in place, in line with the WTO Safeguards Agreement and EU legislation,” according to Fastener + Fixing. Canada and Mexico have also announced tariffs on a range of products, though at this time none of those measures appear to specifically target fasteners.

“Needless to say, if the U.S. removes its tariffs, our measures will also be removed,” noted Malmström.

The 232 tariffs have been condemned by Senate Republicans and Democrats, who expressed concerns about costs passed on to manufacturers and consumers by higher-priced metals, according to CNBC.

“These tariffs do not support U.S. national security,” Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said. “Instead, they harm American manufacturers, damage our economy, hurt American consumers and disrupt our relationship with long-term allies while giving China a free pass.”

But there is no sign that the Trump administration intends to abandon the tariffs. In fact, Trump continues to tout his administration’s approach to global trade.

“One thing no one talks about are the money pouring into the treasury,” he stated. “These tariffs are billions and billions of dollars.”

The Trump administration has collected more than $775 million from the metals tariffs since they were imposed in March, Bloomberg reports. The total is expected to exceed $1 billion with the next six weeks.

In a June 21 interview with CNBC, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross downplayed the tariffs, “saying they would not have a huge impact on product prices and the overall economy,” Reuters reports.

Lawmakers and business leaders have also criticized what they called “a confusing and damaging Trump administration process of imposing tariffs,” CNBC reports.

“At the Commerce Department, officials have been overwhelmed with pleas from U.S. companies for waivers from levies on foreign steel and aluminum that the president introduced in March,” according to the Washington Post.

So far, more than 22,500 exclusion requests from 300 companies have been filed, though less than half have been made available for public comment. Lag time between filing and being published on regulations.gov typically lasts about three weeks. Once public, domestic steel manufacturers have 30 days to file an objection, after which Commerce has 90 days to make a decision on each exclusion.

The Industrial Fasteners Institute’s Washington representative Jennifer Baker Reid told GlobalFastenerNews.com in early June that the Commerce Department was already overwhelmed by the exclusion requests, which will only increase now that the 232 tariffs apply to Canada, Mexico, and the EU. Commerce Department officials predict the number of applications will reach 40,000 – more than four times its original estimate.

“The process is broken, it has been overloaded, and that is only going to get worse,” Reid told GlobalFastenerNews.com.

To meet demand, Commerce Department officials have “cobbled together a team of employees and outside contractors with varying levels of technical expertise” to review the waiver requests, a senior department official told the Post.

“Only last week did the department begin training the roughly 30 evaluators who must review 21,000 petitions from U.S. companies that want to continue importing the metals on a duty-free basis, said one senior Commerce Department official,” writes David J. Lynch of the Post.

Many application reviewers working for the Commerce Department reportedly have little metals or manufacturing experience beyond a three-hour crash course given by the department. Once hired, the evaluators “are assigned to review five-page Excel spreadsheet applications from U.S. manufacturers containing detailed descriptions of steel and aluminum products that applicants say cannot be acquired from domestic producers,” according to the Post.

Those spreadsheets include technical details – the 10-digit tariff code for the type of metal they want exempted, its chemical composition, finish, strength and dimensions – leaving “doubts about the evaluators’ ability to render timely and accurate decisions.”

“It’s going to be so unbelievably random, and some companies are going to get screwed,” the senior Commerce Department official told the Post. “These people are making multibillion-dollar, unbelievably uninformed decisions.”