TRA response to government decision on steel safeguards

On Wednesday 30 June, the Secretary of State for International Trade announced her decision on the steel safeguards case. The government’s decision:

• accepts the Trade Remedy Authority’s recommendation to extend the safeguard measure across 10 steel product categories for a further 3 years
• revokes from today 4 of the 9 steel product categories recommended for revocation by the TRA and
• provides for a 12-month extension of current protections for five of the nine product categories recommended for revocation by the TRA

In the TRA analysis, the 5 product categories concerned had been recommended for revocation on the basis of insufficient evidence of an import surge into the UK (categories 6, 12, 16 and 17) or insufficient evidence of serious injury to UK industry (category 7).

TRA Chair Simon Walker said: “The TRA has been set up by statute to provide impartial recommendations to government, based on careful analysis of the available evidence. In this case, as for all our investigations, we have worked within the trade remedies legal framework set out in UK legislation and regulations. But it is for ministers to make the final decision.”