British steel facing ‘existential threat’ after EU hikes tariffs
The British steel industry entered the crisis after the European Union announced 50 percent customs duties implementation plans to imports from the UK.
Sir Keir Starmer’s mission to reset relations with the block after Brexit, the European Commission doubled the current 25 percent level, while customs -free import volume decreased by 47 percent to 18.3 million tons annually announced plans to reduce.
UK Steel General Manager, new tariffs, currently 78 percent of the steel to the EU for the sector “destructive” will be, he said. This came after the sector still dealt with the influence of 25 percent of customs duties imposed on imports by Donald Trump to the United States.
The Prime Minister said that the government strongly supports the steel industry and had negotiations with both the US and the EU.
Gareth Stace of UK Steel warned that the government should “do everything” to secure the United Kingdom country quotas, otherwise it would “potentially face disaster”.
Speaking to Times Radio, he added: “This is perhaps the biggest crisis of the United Kingdom’s steel industry.
“We closed the US steel market to imports and today we saw that the EU offers the same.
“We see that protectionist trade measures all over the world are increasing rapidly. And let me say that the last country defending the steel industry will be the first country to become industrialized. This is a big problem for our sector.”
“If the United Kingdom cannot sit at the table with the EU and convince the EU that we are not their enemies, and then cannot create a reasonable quota for the UK’s export to the EU, then we will see losses in our sector.
“If we don’t get an agreement, if we don’t trade with our biggest trade partner, we will never be the same steel sector in the United Kingdom again.”
In the meantime, the Deputy Secretary General of the Community Union Alasdair McDiarmid said: “Considering that approximately 80 percent of the steel exports of the United Kingdom go to Europe, new measures proposed by the EU constitute an existential threat to thousands of business and community supported by our industry.”
And GMB union national official Charlotte Brumpton-Childs described measures as a “hammer coup” to the UK steel industry. “If appropriate protection measures are not taken, this may be the end of steel production in the UK,” he said.
Speaking to journalists on the plane to India for a commercial visit, Sir Keir said that he had negotiations with the US and the EU on customs duties.
“As you can see from Scunthorpe and Port Talbot, our position for our steel industry is a strong support.
“Regarding the problem of tariffs or other measures, as you expect, we meet with the EU about this issue as well as the US. So I can tell you more when the time comes, but we meet as you expect.”
The prime minister said whether he wants exemption from tariffs, “I will not go into details, but I will explain clearly as you expect, we meet with the EU and the United States,” he said.
Meanwhile, Industry Minister Chris McDonald said that after the announcement, the government “pressure to make an emergency statement” and the UK will always defend our critical steel industry, “he said.
“It is vital that we maintain the trade flow between the United Kingdom and the EU and we will work with our closest allies to overcome global difficulties instead of increasing the problems of our industries.
“This government has demonstrated its loyalty to our steel sector by providing privileged access to our exporters to the US market, and we continue to investigate stronger commercial measures to protect the UK steel producers from unnamed behaviors,” he said.
The last coup came after Donald Trump’s tariffs after the uncertainty for months for the sector.
The US-England agreement, which was signed earlier this year, has removed trade barriers to some goods for both countries, but left the UK’s steel exports to zero at 25 percent instead of reducing it to zero as it was initially agreed.
