The European Union has enacted a landmark steel trade defence law, effective 1 July 2026, replacing its existing safeguard measure. The regulation sets tariff-free import quotas at 18.3 million metric tons per year & raises out-of-quota duties to 50%. It introduces a "melt & pour" origin rule to prevent circumvention & allows unused quarterly quotas to carry over. Global steel overcapacity is set to hit 721 million metric tons by 2027, more than five times the European Union's annual consumption.