The European Union yesterday saw off a US attempt to seek a World Trade Organisation (WTO) probe of safeguard measures Brussels has taken in the US-EU steel dispute.

The United States asked the WTO's Disputes Settlement Body to set up a panel to examine the safeguards, claiming that Brussels had not provided clear evidence that it was facing an increase in imports due to trade diverted by contentious US steel tariffs.

But the EU said the US tariffs had triggered a flood of steel imports from other countries and it needed safeguards to prevent damage from US protectionism, according to trade sources. - (AFP)