{"id":481967,"date":"2025-10-08T03:57:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T03:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/481967\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T03:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T03:57:14","slug":"british-steel-industry-faces-existential-threat-from-eu-tariff-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/481967\/","title":{"rendered":"British steel industry faces \u2018existential threat\u2019 from EU tariff hike"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s steelmakers have warned they face \u201cperhaps the biggest crisis\u201d in their history after the European Commission proposed doubling tariffs on steel imports to 50% \u2014 a move that could severely restrict access to their most important export market.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU is the destination for nearly \u00a33bn of UK steel exports each year, representing 78% of all overseas sales. Industry leaders fear the proposed measures, which would also slash tariff-free quotas for imports by 47% to 18.3 million tonnes annually, could devastate UK producers already struggling with high energy costs and fragile finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis poses an existential threat to our industry,\u201d said the Community Union<\/a>, which represents steelworkers. Gareth Stace, director-general of UK Steel<\/a>, urged ministers to act quickly: \u201cThe government must go all out to leverage our trading relationship with the European Union to secure UK country quotas or potentially face disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commission insists the new safeguards are needed to protect European producers from a glut of cheap imports from China, Turkey and elsewhere. Industry chief St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9 pointed to the loss of 18,000 steel jobs in 2024, saying: \u201cWe have global overcapacity, unfair competition, state aid, and undercutting in prices \u2014 and we are reacting to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the plan, any steel imported above the reduced quota would be subject to a 50% tariff, bringing EU levels in line with the United States, where President Donald Trump raised duties sharply earlier this year. The proposals, still requiring approval from EU governments and the European Parliament, are due to take effect early next year.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government was in talks with Brussels and pledged \u201cstrong support\u201d for the sector. \u201cWe are in discussions as you\u2019d expect,\u201d he said, though he declined to confirm whether the UK was seeking exemptions.<\/p>\n

Industry Minister Chris McDonald said London was pressing the EU for \u201curgent clarification\u201d of the plan\u2019s impact. \u201cIt\u2019s vital we protect trade flows between the UK and EU,\u201d he said, stressing the government\u2019s commitment to securing new export opportunities for British producers.<\/p>\n

The warning comes at a perilous time for the UK steel industry. The government has already stepped in to take control of plants in Scunthorpe, Rotherham and Stocksbridge after financial collapses this year, while negotiations to remove U.S. tariffs on British steel remain stalled.<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s tariff hike is part of a wider global shift towards steel protectionism, with Canada, Mexico and Brazil also tightening trade measures in recent months to guard against displaced shipments.<\/p>\n

Norway and Iceland, as members of the European Economic Area, will be exempt, while Ukraine will also be spared due to its wartime situation. The UK and Switzerland, however, will be affected unless fresh arrangements can be struck.<\/p>\n

The European steelmakers\u2019 lobby Eurofer welcomed the Commission\u2019s move as \u201ca major leap forward to defend the sector,\u201d but UK unions warned it could instead redirect \u201cmillions of tonnes of steel towards Britain,\u201d with catastrophic consequences for the country\u2019s remaining plants.<\/p>\n

For more articles like this, visit our Leadership<\/a> channel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s steelmakers have warned they face \u201cperhaps the biggest crisis\u201d in their history after the European Commission proposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[22792,2000,299,5187,1699,897,3181,15285,22793,1201],"class_list":{"0":"post-481967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-businessmodels","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-jobs","14":"tag-leadership","15":"tag-rd","16":"tag-skills","17":"tag-trade"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115336540574859184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}