A comprehensive bill to bolster South Korea’s steel industry is garnering bipartisan support amid growing threats from high U.S. tariffs.

Democratic Party Rep. Eoh Kiy-ku and People Power Party Rep. Lee Sang-hwi, who serve as co-heads of the National Assembly’s Steel Forum, introduced the Special Act to Strengthen the Competitiveness of the Steel Industry and Promote the Green Steel Technology Transition, or the so-called K-Steel Act, Monday.
 
The bill calls for the establishment of a special committee to strengthen the competitiveness of the steel industry, investment in steel decarbonization technologies, restrictions on imports and distribution of nonconforming steel materials, and financial and tax support measures, among other provisions.
 
A total of 106 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties have endorsed the bill in the first such case of bipartisan cooperation in the 22nd National Assembly.

During a press conference, the bipartisan group expressed concern about the future of the country’s industries and its economy after the United States doubled a tariff on all steel and aluminum imports to 50 percent, likening the move to an “import ban” on South Korean steel.
 
Stressing that the nation is also experiencing an “omnidirectional crisis” with the implementation of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and an influx of low-cost Chinese imports, the lawmakers called the K-Steel Act an “industrial paradigm shift” that will support the sustainable growth of the steel industry and the transition to carbon neutrality, as well as protecting the people’s economic interests and their future.