The UK government has announced a significant tightening of its steel import safeguards, going beyond the Trade Remedies Authority’s initial recommendations. Starting July 1, the annual liberalization of steel quotas will be reduced from 3% to just 0.1%, aligning the UK’s approach with the European Union.

Additional measures include caps on residual quotas to prevent any single country from dominating import volumes. Specific limits will apply to categories such as metallic coated sheet, quarto plates, and rebar. The government will also eliminate the rollover of unused quarterly quotas and restrict access to residual quotas in the final quarter for countries with specific allocations.

These changes come in response to rising concerns over redirected steel flows from the US and EU markets, following new protectionist measures abroad. Industry leaders have welcomed the move as a critical step to protect domestic producers from a surge of low-cost, subsidized imports.