EU will give 'maximum consideration' to S. Korea's steel quota request, presidential aide says

President Lee Jae Myung, currently on a European tour, pressed EU leaders for favorable treatment of South Korea ahead of the bloc's new steel import restrictions, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.

Kim Yong-beom, chief of the presidential policy office, told reporters at a press center in Rome that the South Korea-EU summit had provided an ideal opportunity to raise the issue at the highest level. "There were difficulties on several fronts ahead of the July 1 implementation of the steel import restrictions, but this summit was an invaluable occasion to raise the matter at the very top," he said.

Kim said the EU had signaled it would give Seoul's request serious weight. "The EU side said that, as a country sharing common values and a strategically important partner, it would give our request maximum consideration," he said.

The EU plans to nearly halve the annual quota of tariff-free steel imports — from 35 million metric tons to 18.3 million metric tons — starting July 1, to protect its domestic steel industry.

Imports exceeding that threshold will be subject to a new tariff rate of 50 percent, double the current 25 percent.

South Korea and other major steel-exporting countries have been in negotiations to secure as large a share of the tariff-free quota as possible.

Kim said Seoul had been pushing hard from the outset of the talks. "South Korea's steel industry is the backbone of the national economy and a core industrial sector we must protect," he said. "We have mounted an all-out effort from the very start of negotiations to ensure our companies receive fair treatment as a free trade agreement partner and maintain stable market access."

He added that South Korea's key industries — including automobiles, shipbuilding and construction — depend on the competitiveness of the domestic steel sector.

"Intensive negotiations on quota volumes have been under way between South Korea's chief trade negotiator and the EU trade commissioner, and considerable progress has been made," Kim said. "I cannot disclose the details yet, but we expect a better outcome than other countries."

Kim said President Lee had used the summit to underscore the importance of the steel issue to the bilateral relationship and to urge the EU to ensure South Korean companies were not put at a disadvantage. "The EU responded that, as South Korea is a country sharing common values and a strategically important partner, it would give our request maximum consideration," he said.

The two sides also discussed semiconductor cooperation during the talks.

"South Korea specializes in manufacturing while the EU specializes in equipment research and development, and both sides agreed to work closely together on joint research," Kim said.