ThyssenKrupp Steel AG welcomes the decision by President George W. Bush to lift the tariffs on steel imports to the USA. "The US administration has acted in time to defuse a politically and economically unacceptable situation," said CEO Dr. Ulrich Middelmann, adding that this would avert further turbulence in world trade. The Section 201 safeguard measures introduced by the USA on March 5, 2002, which imposed tariffs of up to 30% on imports of certain steel products, were declared by the World Trade Organization as incompatible with WTO rules, most recently in the report issued by its Appellate Body on November 10, 2003. "We now hope that the talks at the OECD on an international agreement to further reduce subsidies and overcapacities on the global steel market will continue, taking European interests into account," said Dr. Middelmann. "At the same time we call on the American steel industry not to resort to other trade measures, as in the past, but to continue their restructuring efforts in order to become internationally competitive."

The tariffs impacted some 200 million euros of sales at ThyssenKrupp Steel, representing 1 to 2% of Steel`s total sales (12 billion euros in 2002/2003). ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG applied for 360,000 metric tons of exports to the USA to be exempted from the tariffs. In the first round in November 2002, 137,000 tons were exempted, including 82,600 tons of high-quality hot-dip galvanized sheet for the core US automotive sector. In the second round, exemption applications for a total of approx. 185,000 tons were submitted for ThyssenKrupp Stahl, most of them by our customers. At the end of March 2003, a further 88,600 tons of high-quality coated sheet for auto bodies were exempted, bringing total exemptions to 225,600 tons.

Contact:

ThyssenKrupp Steel AG
Erwin Schneider
Tel.: +49 203 / 52 - 2 56 90
Fax: +49 203 / 52 - 2 57 07
e-mail: erwin.schneider@tks.thyssenkrupp.com

Dietmar Stamm
Tel.: +49 203 / 52 - 2 62 67
Fax: +49 203 / 52 - 2 57 07
e-mail: dietmar.stamm@tks.thyssenkrupp.com