In a statement released on October 7, Federaccai, the Italian federation of steel companies, assessed the European Commission's permanent safeguards regime as "an overall positive measure" and "an important step towards a more informed European industrial policy capable of protecting the competitiveness and productive potential of our steel industry."
At the same time, however, statements by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, regarding cooperation with member States and global partners, including at the WTO level, have caused some concern. Federaccai believes that this issue should be considered in the European Parliament, since the involvement of global partners would mean the need to discuss with China measures aimed at countering China's trade practices.
For greater effectiveness, the note concludes, this proposal should be supported by "coherent and complementary tools" such as the European Buy strategy and the CBAM review, especially with regard to the abolition of free benefits, which could also harm other segments of the industry.
The new protective system is designed to solve the problem of excess capacity by limiting duty-free imports to 18.3 million tons per year, doubling tariffs to 50 percent and imposing a "melt and pour" requirement to prevent circumvention, according to the report. SteelOrbis.
