On Friday 6 July, the European Commission announced it would introduce provisional safeguard measures on steel in the form of a tariff rate quota (TRQ) following the raising of US customs duties of 25% on imports of steel on 1 June (see EUROPE 12049).
The previous day, the Commission presented the member states with its intention to introduce these measures, and its plan received overwhelming support from the member states meeting in the safeguard committee, according to a Commission press release.
"The new measures will enter into force once formally adopted by the Commission in July", the press release states. A European source told EUROPE that the entry into force of the measures – initially in place for 200 days – should come about in "mid July".
Additional duties will be levied only after a tariff rate quota, based on the level of traditional imports, is reached. According to the same source, the tax rates and calculation method for traditional imports will only be unveiled after the measure is formally adopted. "We are not imposing a limit. We are leaving the market open", the source added.
Alongside this, the EU's safeguard investigation, which was launched at the end of March, is still ongoing (see EUROPE 11989). This should be completed by the end of December, or extended by two months if needed, EUROPE's source stated.
The adoption of safeguard measures was part of the EU's three-pronged response to the unilateral US decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium, along with a complaint being lodged at the WTO and counter measures.
According to a senior European official, a European strategy is being prepared concerning the possible new US measures against the European automobile sector (see EUROPE 12053).
And although European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and US President Donald Trump will both participate in the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 July, no bilateral meeting or EU-US meeting is planned on this occasion, the senior official stated.
Juncker will visit the White House "after 24 July, but not later than 27 July" for talks on the trade tension. He will first sign the EU-Japan free trade agreement a the bilateral summit on Wednesday 11 July. (Original version by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Mathieu Bion, in Vienna)