Dorothée Arns
Director General, European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc), Brussels

Working in the chemical industry has always been challenging. Boring times hardly ever happened, due to the overall cyclicity of the business and constantly changing market conditions with the associated imperative to adapt, especially for Europe with its structural competitive disadvantages in energy prices & raw materials, labour costs & taxes, plus consolidating markets. Additionally, chemicals always implied certain geopolitical aspects.

However, what we have been seeing in the past 12 months, in particular since early April 2025, marks a new dimension, adding more pressures on businesses than ever before. And it becomes more and more evident that these developments are way more than just short-term effects. A lot of them will most likely also last for the years to come, inevitably raising the question inmidst of all the turbulences: Quo vadis, chemical industry in Europe?

To start with the source of the latest external shock: the US tariff policy since early April 2025. Domestically, the US President sees it as fulfilling the promises he made in front of his electorate during the Presidential elections and a good thing t ...