EU extends safeguard measures on steel products until June 2026

The Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU said that on June 25, the European Commission announced regulations on extending safeguard measures on steel for another two years, until June 2026. In addition, the regulations also adjust the function of this measure to suit market conditions.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU, the regulation follows an investigation requested by 14 EU member states that found that safeguard measures continue to be necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury to the EU steel industry.

At the same time, the EU industry is adjusting to the higher import levels. The extension and adjustment of the regulation is evidenced by a combination of factors that put significant import pressure on the EU market, high global steel overcapacity and increased exports from China to third countries, especially in Asia, leading to increased exports from those third countries to the EU.

The European Commission published regulations on extending the safeguard measure on steel for another two years, until June 2026. Illustrative photo

“Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia have achieved capacity growth rates ranging from 35% to 95%, while steel demand has declined or increased slightly, and several other economies in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa are also witnessing imbalanced growth (Iran, Pakistan and Algeria),” the EU investigation said.

Furthermore, the increasing number of trade remedies and other trade restrictions imposed by other third countries are causing direct or indirect diversion of exports to the EU, such as the US Section 232 on certain steel products and other measures applied by some countries.

For example, in August 2023, Mexico increased import tariffs from 15% to 25% on certain steel products. In February 2024, Brazil increased import tariffs on certain steel products. In April 2024, Türkiye restricted exports of certain steel products to Israel.

In addition, demand in the EU has significantly decreased. The Chairman of the OECD Steel Committee in March 2024 predicted that global steel demand growth will continue to be very slow in 2024 and 2025. In addition, the European Iron and Steel Industry Federation (Eurofer) also pointed out that ongoing economic uncertainty will continue to affect steel market growth in the coming quarters to 2024.

The technical adjustments will enter into force on 1 July 2024 and the measure will expire on 30 June 2026, eight years after it was first applied. This is the maximum period of application of the safeguard measure allowed under EU and World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. The Commission can still review the implementation of the measure before 30 June 2026 if it considers that further adjustments are needed.

Notably, Vietnam is also one of the countries exporting to the EU affected by the extension of this regulation. Therefore, businesses can access the link to the EU website to see specific quotas of countries and Vietnam for each type of product; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202401782.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/eu-gia-han-bien-phap-tu-ve-doi-voi-mat-hang-thep-den-thang-62026-329448.html