This infographic shows why the EU needs the EU steel safeguard - and why it needs to work. Steel is an intensively traded product in a market suffering from significant global overcapacity. This is affecting the financial and economic sustainability of the steel sector. 

The safeguards are a justified trade policy response to import surges caused by external factors. The quota itself is based on the average volume data from 2015-2017. The quota increased by 5% in February 2019 and is schedule to increase by another 5% in July 2019. This expansion of the quota size is independent of the growth of the overall EU steel market.