"The Commission yesterday presented its intention to member states to introduce provisional safeguard measures on steel under the form of a Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ)," the Commission said in a statement.

It said the new measures will enter into force once formally adopted by the Commission in July.

"The adoption of safeguard measures was part of the three-pronged EU's response to the unilateral U.S. decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum," the statement read.

The U.S. announced that starting on June 1, 2018, it will impose additional duties of 25 percent and 10 percent respectively on imports of steel and aluminum from the EU.

According to the commission, the U.S. measures affect EU exports worth €6.4 billion ($7.4 billion) and of this amount, the EU will rebalance on €2.8 billion ($3.2 billion) worth of exports immediately.