The EU's temporary steel safeguard expired at end-June 2026 and a permanent TRQ took its place — duty-free volume nearly halved to about 18.35 Mt, the out-of-quota duty doubled to 50%, and a first-ever "melt and pour" origin rule. Using the official allocations, this piece breaks the quota down category by category and country by country: HRC alone claims about 5.2 million tonnes, Türkiye takes the largest share, Taiwan, China is squeezed hardest — and CBAM stacks a second barrier on top.

The European Commission published Regulation (EU) 2026/1384, establishing the EU steel trade regime that takes effect 1 July 2026 and replaces the safeguard measures expiring 30 June. The new framework sets annual tariff-rate quotas of 18.3 million mt with a 50% out-of-quota duty, and adds a melt-and-pour origin requirement to curb circumvention. Crucially, the country-specific quota allocations are not yet set: they will come via a separate implementing act that has not been published, even as talks with several FTA partners reportedly continue. The gap leaves importers and supply chains uncertain about how the quota system will function from day one, with stainless mills among those watching the final country splits.