Steel imports from outside the European Union halved since protective measures were introduced

The Netherlands imports a large amount of steel from countries outside the European Union (EU). In 2025, the Netherlands imported 546 million kilograms of steel from outside the EU. The EU now has new rules.

These rules make it more difficult to bring cheap steel into Europe. As a result, countries such as the Netherlands are importing less steel from outside the EU. This began in 2018, when similar rules were introduced.

Since then, the amount of steel imported by the Netherlands from outside the EU has halved. From July 2026, more than half of all steel from countries outside the EU will be subject to these strict rules. For the Netherlands, this represents one-sixth of the total value and almost one-third of the weight of imported steel.

From 2018 to 2021, the Netherlands bought increasing amounts of steel that fell under the new rules. The peak came in 2021, when the Netherlands imported 1.2 billion kilograms of steel. After that, imports declined, partly because of the war and strict measures against Russia and Belarus, which previously supplied large quantities of steel.

In 2025, almost three-quarters of all steel covered by these rules came from five countries: Japan, China, India, South Korea and Turkey. Japan and China were the most important combined, accounting for just over 41 percent of the steel. The Netherlands actually imported more steel from these countries than it did in 2018, even as total imports declined.

The EU does not only impose rules on steel. Special measures are also increasingly being introduced for other goods. In this way, the EU seeks to protect its companies.

The number of measures against cheap or subsidized products has risen sharply since 1994. In 2025, there were 158 such measures, far more than the 30 recorded in 1994. Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, CBS) uses these data to conduct research into trade and regulations in the Netherlands and Europe.