The EU upgraded its trade remedy measures on February 1 and announced the implementation of final safeguards for 26 types of imported steel products.

According to the announcement issued by the European Commission on the same day, from February 2, the final safeguard measures will be implemented by means of tariff quotas. Once the “listed” imported steel products exceed the quota, the EU will impose a 25% safeguard tariff.

Safeguard measures are one of the trade remedies of the WTO. They are divided into temporary safeguard measures and final safeguard measures. They are intended to avoid a surge in the import volume of a certain product, which seriously damages or jeopardizes the relevant industries of the importing country.

After the United States imposed a 25% tariff on imported steel products on March 23 last year, the EU launched a safeguard investigation on imported steel products on March 26. Last July 19, the EU began to provide temporary protection for 23 types of imported steel products. Measures.

In the case of replacing the temporary safeguards with final safeguards, the February 1 announcement quoted the EU survey as saying that as the United States imposed restrictions on its steel market, steel products infiltrated into the EU market, causing a surge in imports of EU steel products, “seriously endangering EU steel manufacturer".

According to the announcement, the final safeguard measures implemented on February 2 will last for three years, and the review can be carried out according to the changes in the situation.

So far, in addition to the implementation of safeguard measures, the EU has taken two other measures to deal with the United States to impose tariffs on steel. One is to impose retaliatory tariffs on US products exported to Europe, and the other is to resort to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.