(BFM Stock Exchange) – The two steelmakers start the week down, under the threat of customs surcharge announced by Donald Trump on imports of steel and aluminum in the United States.

The markets start the week on a new salvo by Donald Trump in the field of customs duties. The American president said on Sunday, February 9, that he planned to set up additional customs duties of 25% on all imports of steel and aluminum in the United States.

“I will announce customs duties on steel on Monday. […] The whole steel arriving in the United States will have 25% customs duties, “said Donald Trump on the presidential plane transporting him to New Orleans where the Super Bowl, the final of the Professional Football League, was played. The American president also announced that he would apply these same customs from aluminum imports.

ArcelorMittal and Aperam down

These measures would first concern Canada which was in 2024, the large supplier of steel for the United States, followed by Brazil and Mexico, Steel.org/2025/01/steel-imports-2- 5-In-2024/”> According to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, ArcelorMittal was down 2.6%, when Aperam cedes 1.2% after this new Donald Trump offensive.

“In 2018, ArcelorMittal, who produced steel in the United States, said he was generally beneficiary of the increase in customs duties of 25%, explaining that this decision had helped to inflate prices,” said Invest Securities in A note published this Monday, February 10.

“Since then, the group has sold most of its American assets in 2020 and the management of ArcelorMittal said a few days ago that the increase in customs duties for Mexican and Canadian products would have an impact of around $ 100 million per quarter, “continues the design office.

Aperam should also be affected by these potential customs duties, even if the aluminum specialist acquired the US group Universal Stainless & Alloy Products at the end of 2024, for just over $ 400 million, adds Invest Securities.

Blow for blow

It is indeed not the first time that Donald Trump has used customs weapons for imports of metals. During his first mandate, on March 8, 2018, the American president had imposed 25% surcharge on steel imports and 10% on those of aluminum from the European Union as well as Canada and the Mexico.

“When a country (the United States) loses billions of dollars in its commercial relations with almost all partner countries, trade wars are good and easy to win,” he denounced on Twitter, the Old X.

The American president also warned that he would announce “Tuesday or Wednesday” of “reciprocal customs rights”, on the trade partners of the United States. “If they tax us 130% and we do not tax them, that will not remain like that,” he announced.

For their part, the markets are starting to get used to the Trump method, namely to draw first to negotiate then. On the Paris Stock Exchange, investors want to put this new customs offensive into perspective, with a CAC 40 which evolves around its balance point at 7,977.99 points this Monday.