The TRA has recommended that country-specific caps be imposed on certain categories of steel imported to the UK to help defend the country’s steel-production industry.
The caps will come into effect from 1 October 2025 to allow steel importers time to adjust. The TRA has also recommended that carry over quotas be scrapped from 1 July 2025.
In March, the TRA expanded the matters being considered in its tariff rate quota review of the steel safeguard measure to ensure new concerns raised by the UK steel industry were fully considered.
Having examined UK Steel’s data and submissions from a range of interested parties, the TRA has in its Statement of Intended Final Determination (SIFD) proposed that country-specific caps should be imposed on the residual quota in the following categories:
- Category 4 (metallic coated sheet): 40%
- Category 7 (non-alloy and other alloy quarto plates): 40%
- Category 13 (rebar): 40%
The TRA determined that there had been a change in demand for steel, both within the UK and globally, creating significant pressures on the UK steel industry, which warranted the TRQs being varied.
The TRA cited the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Steel Committee, which said in November last year: “The overall trends discussed at the Steel Committee meeting suggest that global excess capacity will increase significantly in 2025 and 2026, which will add further pressure on oversupply conditions and deepen the economic challenges facing the steel industry.”
TRA Chair Nick Baird said:
The TRA has listened to the concerns of the UK’s steel industry and worked at pace to recommend changes to steel import quota allocations to help protect the UK steel industry from the destabilising impact of global overcapacity.
Further variation to TRQ allocation
The TRA has also proposed further changes to the allocation of the TRQs.
Under the TRA’s proposals, the “carry-over” facility, where unused quotas are made available in the following quarter, should be removed; countries with a country-specific quota should no longer have access to the residual quota in the final quarter; country-specific quotas for developing countries excepted from the measure would not be redistributed.
Interested parties can comment by 26 May 2025 via the TRA’s public file. Once the TRA has examined these comments, it will submit its final recommendation to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
Background information:
- The TRA is the UK’s independent body for investigating and recommending trade remedies.
- UK industries concerned about imports have been able to submit applications for a new trade remedy measure since January 2021. These applications are considered by the TRA to see if there are grounds for an investigation.
- Tariff rate quotas (TRQs) are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. They specify how much of a product can be imported from a country before its imports are subject to higher tariffs.
- Under the TRA’s initial proposals published today, a 40% country cap would apply to the residual quotas in Categories 4, 7 and 13. This means that when imports from an individual country accessing the residual quota in these categories exceeds 40% of the residual quota allocation, those imports would become subject to the safeguard measure.
