The EU's preliminary agreement reduces the steel tariff-free import quota by half, and the excess tariff rate is raised to 50%

According to a report by Reuters, the European Commission and the European Parliament have reached a preliminary agreement to reduce the tariff-free import quota for steel and impose a 50% tariff on imports exceeding the quota to protect the EU steel industry. Under the consensus, the tariff-free import quota will be limited to 18.3 million tons per year, a reduction of 47% from 2024, and the tariff rate on imports exceeding the quota will double.

Due to increased imports and the 50% tariff imposed by U.S. President Trump, the capacity utilization rate of EU steel production is only 65%. The new measures aim to raise the capacity utilization rate to 80%. Current safeguard measures for EU steel include import quotas and a 25% tariff on imports exceeding the quota, which will expire on June 30 according to World Trade Organization rules. The European Commission proposed new measures last October and indicated that the EU steel industry has lost about 100,000 jobs since 2008