EU Commission imposes provisional safeguards on electrical-steel imports

Tariff-rate quotas combined with price thresholds: within the quotas €2,800, €3,100 or €3,400 per tonne depending on product quality, and €3,500 per tonne above the quotas; where goods are imported below that level, the additional duty corresponds to the difference from the threshold. In force from 25 September 2026 for an initial 155 calendar days until 26 February 2027. The scope also covers laminations and cores as well as cores already incorporated into transformers, thereby also protecting downstream transformer manufacturers.

On 18 September 2026 the European Commission adopted provisional safeguard measures for grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), used above all in transformer cores and described by the Commission as critically important for the security of the EU's energy infrastructure. Following the investigation launched in March 2026, the Commission concluded that urgent measures were needed to protect a strategic EU industry under threat from high import pressure fuelled by global overcapacities and the closure of traditional export markets. The regulation explicitly names Thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel in Gelsenkirchen as a European producer; according to the company, around 1,200 jobs at the Gelsenkirchen and Isbergues sites are linked to the GOES business. (Sources: European Commission, DG Trade and Economic Security, 18 Sep 2026; ms-aktuell.de, 20 Sep 2026)