The EU's revised steel safeguards took effect July 1, cutting annual duty-free import quotas to 18.35 million tonnes. South Korea's country-specific quota was reduced by 19.7% to 2.07 million tonnes. To offset the impact, Seoul plans to stimulate domestic steel demand by strengthening cooperation with shipbuilding, defense and renewable energy sectors, which is expected to generate over 510,000 tonnes of additional steel demand. Korea also intends to continue EU negotiations under the FTA framework while expanding into new export markets to reduce reliance on Europe. Under the new quota system, five countries including Turkey, India, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine secured around 2.74 million tonnes/year of duty-free allocations in category 1A (HRC), representing 53% of the total quota. The overall HRC quota was cut by 59%, with Turkey's quota falling about 60% while Japan's rose roughly 24%.

Finland-based stainless steel producer Outokumpu has welcomed the EU’s revised steel safeguard measures, saying the new framework will provide stronger protection for the European steel industry against global overcapacity, unfair competition, and carbon leakage.