By Patricia Weiss, Christoph Steitz and Oliver Denzer

FRANKFURT/HAMBURG (Reuters) -Europe’s chemical producers are facing fresh turmoil as U.S. import tariffs disrupt global trade, prompting customers to delay orders and hitting demand in a sector struggling to recover from the region’s 2022 energy crisis.

The European Union’s fourth-biggest exporting sector after machinery, automotive and pharmaceuticals, has been grappling in recent years with high production costs after gas and power prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

That and slowing demand due to struggles in key industries have led some companies in the 655-billion euro ($767 billion) sector to close sites and cut jobs to save costs.

U.S. import tariffs of at least 15% on goods from the EU have hit many of the

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