UK Steel welcomes TRA’s safeguard revocation review

UK Steel has welcomed the Trade Remedy Authority (TRA)’s decision to review its previous recommendation to terminate safeguard measures on the imports of nine steel products.

“Such a termination would leave the sector exposed to uncontrolled surges in imports and undermine the effectiveness of the remaining safeguards, threatening the long-term viability the UK’s steel sector,” UK Steel director general Gareth Stace says in a note sent to Kallanish.

“There are strong legal, WTO compliant, grounds for the maintenance of these measures for the full three-year term,” he adds. “Moreover, at a time when the EU and US have maintained their own protections on all steel products, and UK’s steel producers face obstacles to exporting into these markets, it is the only sensible course of action to maintain equal measures for our own producers.”

The TRA also recommended safeguard measures be extended on the other ten products of the 19 that were subject to safeguard measures until end-June. The UK government accepted the TRA’s recommendation but also introduced emergency legislation to extend safeguards on another five of the products for one year (see Kallanish passim).

Half way through the quarter, the UK had exhausted three of its third-quarter steel safeguard quotas. These were hot rolled coil and cold rolled coil from “other countries”, as well as hollow sections from Turkey.

Adam Smith Germany