Steel products are piled up at a port in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, March 11. Yonhap

Korea will take measures to prevent the circumvention of antidumping duties on imported steel products as part of efforts to protect the local steel industry amid heightened global trade barriers, the industry ministry said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the plan at a meeting of economy-related ministers, presided over by acting President Choi Sang-mok, according to ministry officials.

The plan comes after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration imposed 25 percent tariffs on all steel imports last week, a move expected to deal a blow to the Korean steel industry.

To prevent trade circumvention, the government plans to revise its customs regulation to allow the Korea Trade Commission (KTC) to investigate circumvention of antidumping duties by rerouting products through a third country.

The government will also require a mill test certificate, which contains detailed information on the product's country of origin, for all steel imports.

Additionally, a special team will be created under the Korea Customs Service to crack down on the practice of disguising imported goods as domestically produced products for domestic distribution or exports.

The ministry said it will also work to exempt duties on Korean steel products by closely communicating with the governments of major economies, including the U.S., through various trade channels.

The government will also respond to the planned imposition of carbon levies by the European Union (EU) under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the EU's push to strengthen its trade safeguard measures, as well as India's safeguard investigation of steel imports, the ministry added.

The ministry plans to devise a strategy to bolster the competitiveness of the local steel industry later this year to overcome the crisis sparked by the global trade war. (Yonhap)