The European Union has agreed to double tariffs on imported steel to 50%, while cutting duty-free import quotas by 47%, in an effort to protect the bloc's struggling steel industry from a surge of low-cost Chinese exports. The provisional deal, struck between EU lawmakers and member state representatives, sets a tariff-free import ceiling of 18.3 million tonnes annually — equivalent to 2013 levels, the year the EU considers global steel markets became distorted by China's heavily subsidised overproduction. The measures must still be formally endorsed by the European Council and Parliament before taking effect, replacing an existing scheme of 25% duties that expires at the end of June.