New Delhi, April 26 

India, together with South Korea, China, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil and Turkey, has called for withdrawal of  safeguard duties on steel imports imposed by the EU arguing that it was no longer appropriate since the bloc’s imports had already declined.

At a meeting of the WTO Committee on Safeguards this week, India pointed out that its steel exports to the EU had declined by € 1.18 billion as a result of the duties and it needed to be immediately revoked, a Geneva-based trade official told BusinessLine.

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“The Indian representative also reminded the EU that the country had notified to the WTO late last year of its proposed suspension of concessions against the EU to compensate for the safeguard, if the duties were not withdrawn,” the source added.

Safeguard duties

The EU’s safeguard duties, that take the form of tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on steel imports beyond which the items attract additional import duties of 25 per cent., were introduced in 2018 and then extended last year till June 2024. This was in reaction to the US decision to impose additional unilateral duties on steel, citing security concerns, from India, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and Turkey. 

The EU’s logic was that the TRQs would help avoid diversion of exports from the US to the EU market.

However, India, China, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil and Turkey all took the floor to emphasise that the EU safeguard investigation was flawed and inconsistent with WTO rules, and that the measure was no longer appropriate or necessary as the EU imports of steel had declined. 

Turkey pointed out that the arbitration process was no longer justified by the US’ unilateral actions against steel imports (taken by the Trump administration), as 85 per cent of steel imports was now exempt from the US import restrictions.

Brazil said the EU’s restrictions on steel could not be justified by US actions and said that any suspension of concessions EU imports would be legitimate if the bloc did not give compensation to those affected by its duties..

India hinted that it could act on its proposal to suspect concessions against the EU as compensation for the safeguard duties if these were not withdrawn, while South Korea said that it, too, reserved the right to suspend concessions against EU imports.

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