Last week the US presidential elections took centre stage in the global media, as the world waited for the presidential election results between incumbent President Donald Trump and challenger, former vice president Joe Biden.

For the steel market the end of Trump’s presidency could well mean a lot of change, though the expectation that the US Senate will continue to be controlled by the Republican Party, which would indicate that big policy changes will be difficult. 

During his four years in office Trump launched the Section 232 measures for steel and aluminium, a move that triggered an infinite number of protectionist measures impacting steel trade across the world. 

Now that Biden is the ostensible president-elect, many hope that the 232 measures could be cancelled going forward, but most believe that it could be too much of a risk for the US steel sector, especially while the Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact the market. For the moment, a swift reduction in protectionism might not be seen in 2021; further development toward more open trades could nevertheless be coming after the pandemic is solved.

In addition to a new US president, 2021 will surely be characterised by a smaller European Union, as the UK is expected to finally leave the union in January, probably without a firm deal.