On January 14, 2026, based on actual import figures, the UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) initiated two reviews to consider terminating safeguard measures on certain steel products, including: Group 4 (metal-coated steel sheets), Group 7 (Quarto steel plates), and Group 12a (commercial alloy steels and light structural steels). Additionally, for Group 4 steel products, on February 24, 2026, the TRA initiated a review of measures with developing countries.

According to information from the Vietnamese Delegation in Geneva, on March 31, 2026, the United Kingdom issued the conclusions of these reviews. The specific conclusions are as follows:

For certain products in the commercial alloy steel and light-section steel group (group 12a), the TRA determined that domestic production had ceased during the investigation period. Therefore, continued application of safeguard measures to these products is no longer appropriate. The UK removed HS codes no longer produced domestically from the scope of the safeguard measures and adjusted quotas to apply only to products still produced domestically. The HS codes removed from group 12a are: 7228 30 41 00, 7228 30 20 00, and 7228 60 20 00.

For galvanized steel sheets (Group 4) and Quarto steel plates (Group 7), the TRA found that some quotas had reached their ceiling in the last quarter of the investigation period and domestic production continued to suffer losses. At the same time, quota utilization still allowed importing businesses to meet market demand without incurring out-of-quota duties. Therefore, the UK decided to continue maintaining safeguard measures on these product groups.

Regarding the review of safeguard measures for developing countries, TRA has announced its conclusions on product group 4 imported from Turkey. TRA found that import volumes exceeded the exemption threshold for developing countries. Therefore, the exemption from safeguard measures for Turkey is terminated, and country-specific quotas are applied.

The measures were officially adjusted from April 1, 2026.

The above are the conclusions of the review of the UK's safeguard measures on certain groups of steel products. These safeguard measures will be in effect until June 30, 2026. Steel manufacturers need to take note of the new regulations and policies to develop appropriate export plans for this market.

For further information, please contact: Foreign Trade Defense Processing Division, Trade Defense Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade , 54 Hai Ba Trung Street, Cua Nam Ward, Hanoi, Email: hanv@moit.gov.vn .

Source: Vietnam.vn