European steel-intensive manufacturing faces existential crisis as regulatory gap allows imported finished goods to evade carbon costs applied to primary steel. EUROMETAL’s September 7 convoy demands comprehensive value chain protection. Imports of critical steel derivatives more than doubled between 2010 & 2024, threatening 13.6 million jobs. The European Parliament has backed CBAM extension to downstream products, yet implementation remains insufficient. Without urgent policy intervention, Europe risks irreversible deindustrialisation & loss of strategic industrial capabilities essential for defence & green transition.