EC steel trade measure consultation feedback mostly favors TRQs

Most feedback submitted for the European Commission's public consultation on updated trade measures addressing the impact of global excess capacity on the EU steel sector looked to be in favor of tariff-rate quotas.

The consultation, launched in July as part of the EC's Steel and Metals Action Plan, closed Aug. 18, with 143 feedback entries received and adoption planned for the third quarter of 2025.

The proposed steel trade measures are aimed at replacing existing safeguards in the EU, which were first implemented in 2019 in response to US Section 232 tariffs and expire June 30, 2026.

European Steel Association Eurofer called for a measure on all basic steel products and an expansion of trade measures in the steel value chain prioritizing sectors where the cost of steel was the major cost factor.

It said TRQs allowed steel demand and supply to continue to condition prices and avoided the risk of shortage, while also not necessarily introducing new or additional administrative burden for downstream users, which was good, as a new steel trade measure coinciding with the start-up of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism could potentially double burden downstream users.

Steel, tube and metal distribution association Eurometal said the new measure should be simple to apply, fair to all operators, and responsive to market developments, ensuring continuity, reliability, and competitiveness across the European steel value chain.

The European Steel Processors Association said it was essential to ensure the new mechanism effectively addresses global overcapacity while supporting the competitiveness of the entire EU steel value chain.

It supported the introduction of a global TRQ system with fixed per-country caps, which would address structural risks such as trade deflection and market concentration.

ESPA also strongly opposed the introduction of a "melted and poured" origin rule in the new steel measures, as it would create significant challenges without effectively addressing the root causes of market distortions.

It called for the EC to rather enhance existing anti-circumvention protocols, improving customs monitoring, and mandating full traceability and digital audit trails across the chain of origin, which would effectively prevent origin shifting and transshipment without harming legitimate trade or increasing compliance burdens.

Germany

The largest share of feedback -- 30% -- came from parties based in Germany, Europe's largest steelmaking region.

The German Steel Association said the urgent goal was to limit imports to a viable level to create fair competitive conditions and enable investments in climate-friendly transformation.

The German Steel Tube Association, Italian Steel Association Federacciai and Polish Steel Association HIPH all supported a mechanism based on reduced and fair TRQs, higher out-of-quota tariff without dilution, and no country-specific exemptions.

They also called for TRQs to correspond to import market shares of a period when demand was equally as weak as today, namely 2012-13, and be set at 15% for flat steel, 5% for long steel, and 15% for stainless steel of EU current demand.

Federacciai and HIPH both suggested the out-of-quota rate be set at the same rate as the US (50%) to avoid trade deflection and ensure a level playing field globally, and also include all steel products subject to the US 232 tariffs.

Federacciai said the instrument should be flexible enough to allow quota volumes to be adjusted in order to maintain a constant market share for imports.

HIPH called for the new measure not to be considered interchangeable with other instruments, such as CBAM or product-specific antidumping measures, and asked for mechanisms to prevent disruptions in national markets and guarantee a fair distribution of import volumes across Member States.

Spanish Steelmaker Association UNESID said the new trade measure should resolve current safeguard weaknesses and extend the protection to more products, although it said it was difficult to calculate quotas for processed steel products, suggesting a quota-free tariff be applied to such products.

Outside EU

Outside the EU, the Turkish Steel Exporters Association said the EC should avoid broad, indiscriminate measures that risked unjustly penalizing responsible partners such as Turkey.

It said the Turkish steel industry should not be classified in the same category as state-supported exporters with high emissions.

"It is crucial that, in designing the EU's new trade instrument, Turkey's role as a responsible producer and low-carbon supplier is duly recognized, and that measures are put in place to incentivize climate-friendly manufacturers and to ensure that bilateral trade is maintained under free market principles," it said

The Japan Iron and Steel Federation said it opposed protectionist policies that hindered global economic growth and any new safeguard must comply with WTO requirements.

It said the introduction of a "melted and poured" rule was not necessary to ensure the effectiveness of steel measures.

The federation said the proposed steel measure should not include a review clause that would allow tariff levels, or the level of TRQs and out-of-tariff rates to be adapted according to changing circumstances, as such a mechanism would violate transparency and due process requirements and may result in unlawful modifications not supported by a new investigation.

The Korea International Trade Association said any new restrictions on steel imports would contradict the spirit of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement.

It opposed any restrictions on South Korea steel imports, but if something was imposed, it should exclude Korea from the scope, given the extensive economic and security cooperation between the two countries.

If South Korea was not excluded, KITA requested a product exclusion mechanism, which would ensure a stable supply of steel products not produced sufficiently or to satisfactory quality within the EU.

KITA also asked the EU allocate country-specific TRQ volumes and establish the level of the volumes for South Korean imports based on the most recent representative period.

It also requested flexibility, allowing unused TRQ volumes to be carried to the next period, and that the TRQs apply exclusively to products originating in South Korea, with any transshipments from third countries explicitly excluded.

Meanwhile, Brazil Steel Institute Aco Brasil said that, as Brazil was a developing country that did not offer specific steel industry subsidies, and was a partner of the EU in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, Brazil should be excluded from any proposed measure.