Eurometal warns 300,000 EU factory jobs at risk as Chinese competition accelerates deindustrialization

Europe’s manufacturing sector is staring down what one industry leader calls an “accelerating process of deindustrialisation,” and the numbers backing up that claim are genuinely alarming. Eurometal, the trade body representing European steel distributors and processors, estimates that roughly 300,000 direct jobs in the steel industry alone are under immediate threat from subsidized Chinese imports flooding the continent.

A protest featuring 10 coffins, each symbolizing a struggling manufacturing sector, is set to take place in Brussels.

The scale of the problem

The 300,000 figure is just the tip of the iceberg. Eurometal puts total at-risk employment at over 13 million direct jobs and roughly 65 million indirect jobs across European manufacturing. The steel sector itself supports an estimated 2.5 million positions when you factor in the broader supply chain.

Eurometal President Alexander Julius has described the situation as a “colonisation” of European industry by Chinese component manufacturers. Safeguard measures first implemented in 2018 were supposed to stem the flow of cheap imports. They didn’t. Factory closures and production cuts have continued to pile up, spreading beyond steel into automotive and chemical manufacturing. The automotive supply sector alone faces the potential loss of approximately 350,000 jobs over the next five years, driven by a cost disadvantage of up to 35% relative to Chinese competitors.

Brussels responds with sharper trade tools

New steel import quotas for 2025-2026 represent a 47% reduction overall. Tariffs above those quotas have been doubled to 50%. China’s tariff-free allocation for steel imports has been slashed by two-thirds.

Eurometal coordinated a 2026 call-to-action that attracted support from over 350 companies and 40 national associations. Their demands extend beyond trade barriers into energy policy and broader industrial strategy.

A continental reckoning

The automotive sector’s projected 350,000 job losses over five years underscore how broadly the competitive pressure extends. Previous safeguards failed in part because they were calibrated too conservatively and Chinese exporters found workarounds, routing products through third countries or shifting to slightly different product categories that fell outside protected classifications.

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