India and the European Union have failed to reach an agreement at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the concessions the bloc can offer to New Delhi to mitigate the adverse impact of duties it levies on some steel imports.The two sides conducted consultations on June 7 on the EU’s recent announcement of its decision to extend the existing safeguard measures on some steel product imports beyond the current termination date of June 30 for another two years. “India and the European Union were not able to reach an agreement,” India told the WTO on Monday. The measures hurt imports from many countries including India. “India requested the European Union to put forth its proposals for maintaining substantially equivalent level of concessions and other obligations and adequate trade compensation to mitigate the adverse effects of the proposed measure,” India said.India, China and Russia, along with five others have criticised the EU’s decision to extend the levy on certain steel products, arguing that the measure, imposed after the US slapped additional duties on certain categories of steel imports from the bloc, in 2018, was inconsistent with the global trade body’s rules.In 2021, India had proposed to impose additional import duties worth ₹292 million on select products from the EU in retaliation. Later it proposed additional customs duties of 15% on the import of 22 products, including whisky, cheese and diesel engine parts, from the UK in retaliation to the latter’s decision to impose restrictions on steel products after it exited the EU.Under the WTO’s Safeguards Agreement, members can restrict the imports of a product temporarily through higher tariffs or other measures if its domestic industry is seriously injured. The measures apply to all imports, not just those from a particular country, and should not last more than four years. However, developing countries accounting for less than 3% of the exports are excluded from such measures.On Monday, India said that it reserved its rights to suspend equivalent concessions or other obligations.
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