WTO members review safeguard actions, discuss proposals to suspend concessions

Review of legislative notifications

The Committee, chaired by Ms Milagros Miranda Rojas (Peru), reviewed members' notifications of new or amended national safeguard legislation or regulations from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam. It continued its review of legislative notifications from Liberia and the Solomon Islands.

Notifications of safeguard actions

The Committee reviewed notifications of safeguard actions submitted by 14 members (two developed and 12 developing). Safeguard actions taken by Indonesia, Türkiye and Madagascar accounted for almost 50% of all the safeguard actions reviewed. 

Among the actions that attracted the most interventions were the European Union's modification of its 2019 safeguard measure on certain steel products, with respect to which eight members raised concerns. The other actions attracting the most interventions were the UK's review of its 2019 safeguard measure on certain steel products (with concerns raised by seven members) and Egypt's various investigations on iron and steel products (with seven members raising concerns).

US response to requests for consultations and proposed suspensions of concessions

Referring to requests for consultations notified by the EU and India, and proposed suspensions of concessions or other obligations notified by the EU, Japan, India and the UK to the Committee, the US explained that it did not consider the tariffs imposed by the US President referenced in these notifications to be safeguard actions. According to the US, these actions were maintained pursuant to the essential security exception in Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994. The US considered that no basis existed, therefore, for these members to request consultations or propose the suspension of concessions under the Safeguards Agreement with respect to the US measures.

China, India, Japan and the UK disagreed with the US characterisation of its measures and asserted that the measures, based on their characteristics, appeared to be safeguard measures covered by the Safeguards Agreement and Article XIX of the GATT 1994. 

Canada's response to UK's proposed suspensions of concessions

As regards the UK's proposal to suspend concessions or other obligations in relation to certain measures imposed by Canada which the UK had notified to the Committee, the UK said that Canada's measures had the characteristics of safeguard measures. In response, Canada stated that its measures were not safeguards and that it was committed to continuing bilateral discussions on the matter. 

Online Portal for Safeguard Notifications 

The Chair updated members on the recently launched online portal for the submission of safeguard notifications. Eleven members have registered to receive access, and two members have already submitted notifications of safeguard actions. The Chair reminded members that the WTO Secretariat could arrange tailored one-on-one training sessions on the use of the portal for interested members.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled for the week of 27 April 2026.

Background

Under WTO rules, a member may apply measures to imports of a product temporarily (take "safeguard" actions) through higher tariffs or other measures if it determines through an investigation that increased imports of a product are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to its domestic industry. Unlike anti-dumping duties, safeguard measures cover imports from all sources, although imports from developing country members with a small share of imports are exempted through special and differential treatment provisions.

More background on safeguards is available here.