President Moon: "EU Steel Safeguard Must End as Scheduled in June Next Year"

President Moon Jae-in is holding a video summit with Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, of the European Union (EU) at the Blue House on the 30th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] President Moon Jae-in said during a virtual summit held on the 30th of last month with Charles Michel, President of the European Union (EU) Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, that "We expect the EU to demonstrate leadership in strengthening the free trade system by ending the steel safeguard as scheduled in June next year," the Blue House announced on the 2nd.

Yoon Jae-kwan, Deputy Spokesperson of the Blue House, conveyed in a briefing that "Regarding the recently announced third-year operation plan of the EU steel safeguard, President Moon evaluated the EU's decision to increase the quota and its efforts to reduce the trade-restrictive impact of the safeguard," and relayed this message.

The EU steel safeguard (emergency import restriction) is an import regulation measure that imposes a 25% tariff if imports of certain steel products exceed a specified quantity.

Additionally, President Moon mentioned during the summit that imports of beef from EU member countries were permitted last year, and requested the EU's attention and cooperation to expedite the approval of exports of Korean Samgyetang to the EU, Yoon said.

Deputy Spokesperson Yoon stated, "Regarding Samgyetang exports, the EU is currently revising its import regulations," adding, "The import approval process is in its final stages, with only the member states' vote remaining." He further explained, "Negotiations on Samgyetang exports were previously difficult due to differences in livestock hygiene standards between Korea and the EU, but have since been actively pursued following improvements in domestic livestock hygiene standards."