This paper, issued by the Department of Economic Studies and Market Research at the Arab Iron & Steel Union (July 2026), tracks the accelerating shift in global trade from liberalization toward protectionism, with steel identified as one of the most exposed sectors. It shows that major steel-producing nations increasingly combine tariffs, anti-dumping duties, countervailing measures, safeguards, and raw-material export restrictions to shield domestic industry from global overcapacity, particularly Asian exports.
The study compares fixed tariff structures on billets, rebar, and flat steel products across Arab countries versus major global producers, finding that the largest Arab steel producers (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE) generally apply lower average tariffs than both the broader Arab average and competing economies such as Turkey, Pakistan, India, and Mexico. It documents a sharp rise in WTO anti-dumping and countervailing investigations since 2015 (with metals accounting for roughly 46% of all countervailing measures and 19–26% of anti-dumping measures), and profiles the US, EU, Canada, and Australia as the leading users of these tools, with China as the primary target.
It also reviews recent country-level measures (US Section 232 tariffs up to 50%, Canada's retaliatory tariffs, the EU's Steel and Metals Action Plan and revised safeguard regime, UK quota reductions, China's retaliatory tariffs), and details 28 anti-dumping cases filed by Arab countries versus 37 filed against them. A dedicated section covers circumvention tactics (product modification, transshipment, processing/assembly) that undermine trade defense measures, and rising export restrictions on raw materials like steel scrap.
The paper concludes that protectionism has largely failed to resolve global overcapacity due to persistent circumvention, and recommends: (1) confronting unfair trade practices through closer government-private sector coordination; (2) establishing an "Arab Steel Trade Alert and Rapid Response Mechanism" (import monitoring platform, a trade-defense unit modeled on Eurofer, anti-circumvention coordination, a high-risk product watchlist); (3) an Arab industrial policy for steel (localizing flat-steel production, supporting industries); (4) stimulating domestic steel demand; (5) empowering the Arab private sector; (6) additional investment/monetary incentives; (7) managing overcapacity strategically (an Arab equivalent to the G20's GFSEC); and (8) addressing supply-chain and scrap-import challenges.