The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has on 31 March 2026 published its decisions in three tariff rate quota (TRQ) reviews on the UK’s steel safeguard measure.

TRQs are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework and are used to help implement safeguard measures. They specify how much of a product can be imported from a country before its imports are subject to higher tariffs.

The first of these reviews, TQ0077, reviewed the TRQs concerning categories 4 and 7 steel – metallic coated sheet and non-alloy and other alloy quarto plates. The TRA’s final decision was to maintain the current TRQ on both categories as we found that UK industry produces steel products that compete with those in the applications, and that removing these goods from the safeguard would risk harming the UK steel industry.

TQ0078 reviewed the TRQ on category 12A – alloy merchant bars and light sections. The TRA’s final decision was to vary the TRQ by removing three of the eight commodity codes in category 12A, having found no evidence of UK production during the period of investigation for the goods subject to review in those commodity codes.

TQ0085 reviewed the Developing Country Exemption (DCE) status of Turkey relating to category 4 steel products. Imports from developing countries are given exceptions to TRQs if the goods imported are less than 3% of the total imports of that product and if, collectively, these low volume exporters account for no more than 9% of the total imports of that product. The TRA assessed whether the exceptions for imports from Turkey needed to be amended based on updated import data.

The TRA has subsequently recommended a country-specific quota for Turkey as category 4 steel imports from that country exceeded the threshold during the Period of Investigation.

The effects of all three TRQ reviews will come into place on 1 April 2026.

Background information:

• The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) is the independent UK government body that investigates whether trade remedy measures are needed to counter unfair import practices and unforeseen surges of imports.
• Safeguard measures are one of three types of trade remedies that are allowed under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. Safeguard measures are emergency actions responding to increased imports of particular products, which cause serious injury to the importing country’s domestic industry. They apply to all imports (with some exceptions), rather than being focused on imports from particular countries. They impose duties when imports exceed a level reflecting traditional trading patterns.