Klingbeil: No more Russian steel – Germany is focusing on quality!

Klingbeil: No more Russian steel – Germany is focusing on quality!

In the coming days, everything in politics will revolve around the important “steel summit”, which will take place on November 6th in the Chancellery. Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil has already spoken out and called for an immediate end to all steel imports from Russia. As the Stuttgarter Nachrichten explains, Klingbeil views the current exemption for steel slabs from Russia, which can be further processed in the EU, as extremely critical. This regulation not only undermines German production facilities, but also poses a threat to the European steel industry.

“We need to concentrate more on domestic steel production and have a clear focus on climate-friendly quality steel,” explains Klingbeil. He has hit a nerve, especially at a time when the German steel industry is under immense pressure - be it from high energy prices, cheap imports from China or tariffs on steel imports to the USA.

Challenges for the steel industry

The resilience of the industry will also be discussed before the summit. In addition to Economics Minister Katherina Reiche and Labor Minister Bärbel Bas, who have also pledged their support for the steel industry, the EU Commission is also expected to present its plans to reduce duty-free imports. The Commission has already announced that it will almost halve the amount of duty-free imports and double the tariff rates for other imports to 50 percent.

IG Metall has also spoken out and is demanding that domestic steel be given priority in infrastructure investments. They see this as a fundamental measure to ensure competitiveness and reduce dependence on foreign imports.

Political debates in focus