The European Union is seeking to extend its safeguard measures against South Korea steel products for another three-year period, industry sources said Wednesday.

The European Commission has recently notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it plans to maintain its current level of tariffs on imported steel products, according to sources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

The EU has been charging a 25 percent duty on imported steel products above its quotas since July 2018. The tariff had been originally planned to run through the end of this month.

South Korea and the EU "have been engaging in bilateral talks since Monday. We plan to prudently cope with the situation once we get more details, including the size of the quota," an official from the ministry said.

The commission reportedly said it is necessary for the economic bloc to maintain the safeguard measures considering the industry-wide slump amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU is expected to deliver its final decision next week.

Europe earlier claimed the measure came in response to the protectionism policies rolled out by the United States, which caused steel producers to look to the European market as an alternative.

South Korea's exports of steel products to the EU came to $2.39 billion in 2020, down 19.7 percent from $2.9 billion tallied in 2017. (Yonhap)