Safeguard measures imposed by the USA on steel imports

On 5 March 2002, the USA decided to introduce a wide range of safeguard measures on steel imports. These included a 30 per cent duty on imports of tin mill products, which the Norwegian company Corus Packaging Plus in Bergen exports to the USA. In recent years, about 30 per cent of the company’s production has been exported to the USA, to a value of about NOK 120 million last year.

Norway, together with the EU, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland, held consultations with the USA in Geneva on 11 and 12 April under the WTO’s dispute settlement procedure. These consultations are the first stage of the panel process that can be used to determine whether or not the safeguard measures introduced by the USA breach the WTO Agreement on Safeguards. Norway and the USA held a first round of consultations on 25 March in accordance with this agreement, and at that stage Norway asked the USA to terminate the safeguard measures. Together with other countries that are affected by the measures, we have repeated this request during the most recent round of consultations.

In connection with the consultations with the USA, State Secretary Tronstad of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the problems facing the American steel industry are not trade-related but connected with underlying structural factors. Protectionist trade measures are therefore not the solution.

To prevent steel that can no longer be exported to the USA from being diverted to the EU, the EU has introduced provisional import restrictions. These take the form of quota limits for steel imports based on the average import level for the last three years plus 10 per cent. The quotas apply to all the EU’s trade partners, including those with free trade agreements with the EU. Only developing countries whose imports do not exceed 3 per cent of total EU imports are exempted from the restrictions. The quotas are being allocated on a "first come first served" basis. Three Norwegian companies export products that are covered by the restrictions to the EU.

The Norwegian authorities consider these measures to be a breach of our bilateral agreement with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and of the EEA Agreement. The Norwegian authorities will raise this matter at the next meeting of the EEA Joint Committee on 19 April.