Frictions

As I said, it isn't just the cost but the complexity and uncertainty.

It has meant that since 18 August, companies such as Krone and the construction company Liebherr in Germany have to provide an unprecedented level of detail to customs border authorities certifying the origin, weight and value of any steel in their products right down to nuts and bolts.

“You have to get paperwork from the supplier to the supplier to the supplier. That is pretty much impossible,” said Oliver Richtberg, the head of foreign trade at the German engineering federation VDMA, one of the most influential trade bodies in Europe.

He described the EU/US trade deal, struck in July, as “not worth the paper it is written on”.

“Von der Leyen speaks of stability, for our industry that is 100% not true. The bureaucratic hurdles are so high that some companies have just stopped exporting to the US,” added Richtberg.

It's complexity requiring many participants, which don't all have the same incentives to bother.