The second session of interinstitutional negotiations (trilogue) on steel safeguard measures, on Tuesday 17 March, failed to come any closer to an agreement. Yet time is running out before the global safeguard measures, in force since 2018 under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement, expire in June 2026.
According to our information, the EU Council is standing firm on the possibility of carrying over unused quotas from one quarter to the next within the same year, in order to ensure full use of the annual quota and avoid artificial shortages.
Negotiations at a technical level have yet to take place to assess this possibility, which was not included in the European Commission’s initial proposal.
As a reminder, the latter proposed new tariff quotas for steel derivatives, revised downwards and capped at 18.3 million tonnes per year. Over and above the quota, customs duties are doubled to 50% (see EUROPE 13725/1).
Nor does the Council wish to expand the list of products in the annex to the regulation, from the safeguard currently in force, as the European Parliament would like. However, one solution could be to review this list more quickly than the mandatory review of the regulation, which takes place every two years.
The European Parliament rapporteur, Karin Karlsbro, (Renew Europe, Swedish) also called for a ban on all ‘melt and pour’ imports from Russia and Belarus. The Council cannot accept this request, as it believes that this regulation cannot replace the EU sanctions regime.
The technical negotiations will therefore also aim to find a solution to any new wording or potential reference in the text to existing restrictive measures against Russia.
The next trilogue is scheduled for 14 April. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)