Speech by Commissioner Šefčovič at the European Aluminium Summit 2025

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you, Paul [Voss], for your kind words of introduction.

It is a pleasure to be with you today.

Aluminium production has a long and proud history in Europe.

But it is also very much an industry of the future.

It is essential to a modern and competitive economy.

The aluminium you produce is literally a fundamental building block of the clean transition.

A key ingredient of everything from solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries to sustainable buildings and resource-efficient packaging.

It is also a strategic resource for strengthening the military and defence capabilities of Europe.

It was not by accident that aluminium was designated as a strategic raw material under the European Unions Critical Raw Materials Act.

We are facing a complex and increasingly unpredictable economic and geopolitical environment.

I know that this uncertainty is also being felt in the aluminium sector.

I want to assure you that the European Commission is actively seeking to address this, to ensure that you have the conditions you need to thrive.

This is one of the core ambitions of the European Steel and Metals Action Plan, presented in March 2025.

It recognises the main challenges that the producers of base metals in the EU are facing today.

First, high energy costs, which continue posing a challenge to all energy-intensive industries.

Second, the unlevel playing filed due to the different approaches of other economies to the carbon price and more generally the climate policy.

And third, unfair trade practices, on which I would like to focus today.

Specifically, I want to discuss the measures within our trade and economic security policies that are being taken to support this critical sector.

Trade has been a massive success story for Europe. Over 700,000 EU companies export goods outside the Union, supporting over 30 million jobs.

The European aluminium industry itself is a big exporter, with the top five destinations for aluminium products – the UK, the U.S., Switzerland, Türkiye, and India – accounting for more than 10 billion euros in exports.

Our 44 preferential agreements with 76 countries are key to Europes trade success, covering 46% of our trade.

We are now working full speed to expand this network of Free Trade Agreements.

The recent conclusion of our FTA with Indonesia comes on top of the agreements with the Mercosur region and Mexico.

And we continue negotiations with India, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and the UAE.

Our trade diversification agenda is all the more important given that the EU will continue to rely on imports of raw materials, such as bauxite and alumina – something obviously key for the aluminium industry.

But our openness is only one side of the coin. We are also acting to protect our economic interest and secure the long-term competitiveness of our industry.

To ensure a level playing field, and to address unfair competition and trade weaponisation.

Make no mistake – we stand ready to protect EU industry.

Our markets are open – but everyone has to play by the rules.

We will not hesitate to make rapid and efficient use of our trade defence instruments against dumped or unfairly subsidised imports.

This is in addition to broader efforts to address the rapid developments in global markets and strengthen monitoring of trade flows.

We have created an import surveillance task force allowing us to react in response to the surge of imports to the EU as a result of the recent tariff policies applied by third countries.

Earlier this year, the EU also adopted a ban on imports of Russian aluminium as part of the 16th package of sanctions.

I know that many of your concerns relate to scrap leakage, given over a million tonnes of aluminium scrap leaves Europe every year.

Rightly so. Scrap is a strategic commodity given its important contribution to circularity and decarbonisation, as production from secondary materials releases less emissions and is less energy intensive, as well as to our strategic autonomy.

I have given careful consideration to this issue since day one in this job.

We launched a surveillance mechanism on imports and exports of scrap allowing for the closer and quicker monitoring of export and import developments.

My team and I have engaged in close dialogue with you on this important issue – and my thanks to Paul and European Aluminium for their constructive engagement over the past months.

Today, I am pleased to announce that we are launching the preparatory work on a new measure to address the issue of aluminium scrap leakage.

We do not want to completely block aluminium scrap exports.

Rather, we want to prepare a balanced measure that will allow industries using aluminium to access adequate quantities of this strategically important material at competitive prices, in order to pursue their path towards decarbonisation, fully in line with a circular economy logic.

The measure that we plan to adopt by spring 2026 will take into account the interests of all actors in the aluminium value chain, from producers, to recyclers, to downstream sectors, and will respect the international obligations of the EU.

I strongly encourage all of you to engage with us on the design of the measure, including by participating in the public consultation and the call for evidence which the Commission aims to launch still this year.  

Another priority for us is to address the 50% U.S. tariffs on EU steel and aluminium exports and their derivatives.

The expansion of Section 232 tariffs is understandably of great concern to you, as it is to us.

Finding a path forward to address these de facto prohibitive tariffs is key for the Commission in the implementation process of the EU-US Joint Statement.

I am actively seeking a solution around a system of tariff rate quotas, based on historical trade volumes, allowing for supply chains to be reestablished.

The single, all-inclusive 15% cap on tariffs for EU exports to the U.S. agreed in the deal should be applicable also to aluminium derivatives.

I remain in regular contact with my U.S. counterparts to ensure that all other duties or administrative requirements are eliminated.

I am pleased to be meeting with Commerce Secretary Lutnick and Ambassador Greer during their visit to Brussels next week, and we can discuss these issues on that occasion.

Ladies and gentlemen.

The production of aluminium is a technically complicated process.

From the bauxite mines, to the production of alumina, to all the additional steps required to transform these substances into the final product.

This process is further complicated by todays volatile geopolitics.

It is our job to deliver on the right combination of policy measures so that your industry can navigate this context.

And while trade policy tools are important, and why we wont shy away from using them, we must – as a priority – more efficiently and swiftly address the root causes of the current situation and help you to strengthen your business case in Europe.   

The Commission, and I personally, stand ready to continue to work with Aluminium Europe and the aluminium industry as a whole, so that together we can deliver tangible results in short order.

Thank you.