India and the EU fail to reach an agreement on steel at WTO

 In a notification to the WTO Council for Trade in Goods, New Delhi said that it reserves the right to suspend equivalent concessions or other obligations.

India and the EU have been unable to reach an agreement on the level of concessions and trade compensation the bloc could offer New Delhi to mitigate the adverse effects of extending safeguard duties on certain steel imports from India. 

In a notification to the WTO Council for Trade in Goods, New Delhi said that it reserves the right to suspend equivalent concessions or other obligations. 

The notification stated, “India requested the European Union to put forth its proposals for maintaining substantially equivalent level of concessions and other obligations and adequate trade compensation to mitigate the adverse effects of the proposed measure. India and the European Union were not able to reach an agreement.” 

Consultations between the EU and India took place on June 7 regarding the EU’s recent decision to extend existing safeguard measures on some steel product imports for another two years beyond the current termination date of June 30, 2024. 

These measures negatively impact imports from several countries, including India. Consequently, India reserves its rights under the WTO Agreement, including the right to suspend substantially equivalent concessions or other obligations under the Agreement on Safeguards.

India and other members opposing the extension argue that these safeguard measures, which are essentially tariff increases triggered when steel imports exceed a set quota, have already been deemed inconsistent with WTO rules by a dispute settlement panel and should therefore be terminated.   (India exported US$6.64 billion worth of iron and steel and their products to the EU in 2023–24, up from US$6.1 billion in 2022–23.)