The European Union Releases an Action Plan to Protect the Steel Industry
On March 19th, local time, the European Commission announced that it would take action to maintain and expand the industrial capacity of the steel and metal industries in Europe. The European Commission stated that this action planwould support the industry in dealing with the current challenges in the short to medium term. The action plan includes ensuring energy supply, preventing carbon leakage, protecting high-quality industrial jobs, etc. The European Commission will also propose a long-term plan this year to replace the steel safeguard measures that will expire next year - which is essentially a quota system. At the same time, the European Commission will also study whether to take similar protective measures for the aluminum industry. Thierry Breton, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission in charge of industrial strategy, said on the same day that the EU plans to further reduce steel imports by 15% starting from April.
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South Korea Will Take Measures to Prevent Circumvention of Dumping Related to Steel Imports
On March 19th, South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that in order to deal with the crisis in the steel industry caused by trade barriers and unfair imports, South Korea will take measures to prevent the circumvention of the anti-dumping duties imposed by the country on imported steel products, so as to protect the local steel industry. In order to prevent the circumvention of dumping in steel and aluminum, the South Korean government plans to revise the customs regulations, allowing the Korea Trade Commission to investigate the behavior of traders transshipping through third countries to avoid anti-dumping duties.
The Indian Government Plans to Impose an Additional 12% Provisional Tariff on Imported Steel
On March 18th, India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a notice, proposing to impose a 12% provisional "safeguard" tariff on a variety of steel products. The statement pointed out that when imported steel products pose a threat to India's domestic steel industry or cause permanent damage, the provisional steel tariff will come into effect.
According to the preliminary decision of India's trade authorities, the Indian government will impose tariffs on imported steel products, which are expected to be implemented for 200 days initially. The final tariff decision will be made after consultations and public hearings 30 days later.
India is the second largest steel producer in the world and has been hoping to negotiate with the United States to seek tariff reductions. The Indian government may have followed up with the steel import tariff measures out of pessimism about the tariff exemptions from the United States, but it will undoubtedly exacerbate the chaos in the global steel market.
