EU Plans July 1 Steel Tariff Tightening as Talks With South Korea Continue

Ugo Astuto, the European Union's ambassador to South Korea, said consultations over the bloc's planned new steel tariffs have been intensive and should conclude imminently. He added that the outcome will be productive and will take into account the concerns of both sides. The EU plans to tighten its steel safeguard measures starting July 1.

Under the revised system, tariff-free import quotas for a range of steel products will be reduced, while imports exceeding the quotas will face a 50 percent tariff. During a summit in Brussels earlier in June, President Lee Jae Myung asked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa to give favorable consideration to South Korean steelmakers.

Astuto rejected criticism that the measures amount to protectionism, noting that 70 percent of goods enter the European market with little or no tariffs and that South Korea has maintained a goods trade surplus with the EU in recent years.

Astuto also addressed military cooperation between North Korea and Russia. He stated that North Korea has supplied troops and ammunition to Russia for its war against Ukraine and that Russia has already empowered North Korea. The closer political, military and strategic relationship runs a risk of fueling further proliferation on the Korean Peninsula, he said.

Following the summit, South Korea and the EU issued a joint statement strongly condemning the military cooperation as illegal and as enabling Moscow to sustain its war against Ukraine. The statement expressed grave concerns over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, stressed that the North will never be accepted as a nuclear-weapons state under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and called on all U.N. members to fully implement sanctions against North Korea.