Last week, the US President Donald Trump introduced tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, but he exempted the EU, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea from these regulations.
American President justified his decision with the national security. However, China and India were not included in the agreement on tariffs.
The Indian corporation Arcelor Mittal is owner of Zeljezara Zenica (Steelworks Zenica), and there is a question now on whether Trump’s decision on tariffs will affect domestic production of steel.
BH steelworks are mostly related to neighbouring countries, but they certainly might feel the consequences of imposed US import tariffs in the long run. The EU is a large trading partner of the United States, with which BiH achieves foreign trade, as well as with China, to which Trump introduced import tariffs on steel. Therefore, small economies, such as BiH, will go through difficult challenges in trade wars of the great powers.
According to the data of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, our country exported iron and steel in the amount of 519.2 million BAM last year, while our imports amounted to a total of 562.8 million BAM. We export the most iron and steel to Serbia, Romania and Kosovo, and we import from Italy, Serbia and Slovenia.
(Source: Radiosarajevo.ba)
