European Commission tightens steel import regime, effective July 1st with 47% quota cut

Introducing out-of-quota duty of 50% for 26 categories of steel products imported into the EU - - Will reduce its tariff-free steel imports by 47% from 2024 levels to 18.3Mt per year - - Measure sets tariff-free quotas at 18.3Mt per year - - Will apply stricter rules on “melt and pour” traceability to determine where the steel is originally from and avoid circumvention of tariffs - - Set aside half of the quota for countries with which EU has free trade agreement and the other half for all countries - - - **Insight: EU is tightening its new post-safeguard steel import regime with “melt and pour” traceability, meaning quota access will depend on where steel was originally melted and cast, not merely where it was processed, to stop tariff circumvention. - - Fresh implementation detail on a policy that was already expected: EU institutions had agreed in April and finalized rules to cut annual duty-free steel quotas by about 47% to 18.3 million tonnes and impose a 50% duty above quota from July 1, 2026. - - Broadly in line with recent expectations for stronger EU steel protection, but stricter origin enforcement raises the impact on rerouted Asian/Russian-linked supply chains and is supportive for EU producers while potentially inflationary for steel users