UK steel exports to EU at risk as bloc doubles tariffs and halves quotas | Steel industry
The EU will go ahead with plans to double customs duties and halve quotas on steel imports from July; It’s a move designed to restrict Chinese imports but could hurt UK exports to the bloc.
The decision, taken by EU MPs and member states after late-night talks on Monday, will reduce duty-free quotas by 47%. The exact country distributions have not yet been determined.
Stéphane Séjourné, the EU’s industrial commissioner, praised the deal as the “strongest ever” safeguard measure and “a victory for our steelworks, steelworkers and industrial sovereignty”.
The driving force behind the measures was thought to be a flood of cheap imports from China. But they will also affect European countries outside the EU.
Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein will not be subject to tariffs as they are members of the European Economic Area, but the UK will not be subject to tariffs, highlighting the economic disadvantages of Brexit.
Europe’s steel industry said radical new measures would help pull the sector “from the brink” of collapse.
Axel Eggert, director general of the European Steel Association Eurofer, said the measures would help “by reducing unsustainable import pressure and creating a gap for EU producers to produce an extra 15 million tonnes of steel to meet domestic demand”.
Latest data showed that imports rose from 7.4 million tonnes annually to record levels at the end of 2025, reaching 9.9 million tonnes in the last quarter.
New measures, The law, which will come into force in July, will limit steel imports in the EU to 18.7 million tonnes per year, and country quotas will be negotiated for 28 separate product types.
But with the EU now the UK’s biggest market, with exports of 1.8 million tonnes a year, or 10% of the new quota, pressure is mounting for Keir Starmer to deliver duty-free quotas to fit UK sales into the bloc.
British industry body UK Steel said it was “vital that the UK and EU reach a sensible agreement on access to each other’s quota systems”.
Britain has a strong card in the negotiations; It also announced plans to impose a 50% tax on imports from third countries from July 1 and reduce quotas by 60%, higher than the EU’s 47% reduction.
UK Steel added that because the UK and EU are “each other’s biggest export markets” there is a “clear, mutually beneficial agreement” to stop “real bad actors”.
Eurofer’s Karl Tachelet called on the EU to ensure the UK receives preferential treatment over other third countries.
The UK and EU steel industries have long been integrated and the UK is also the EU’s number one market. “We really have a common interest in being nice to each other, not punishing each other,” he said.
UK steelworkers’ union Community has previously said EU quotas pose an “existential threat” to British industry.
On Tuesday, deputy secretary-general Alasdair McDiarmid said the government needed to be extra cautious and wary of the risk of “the EU pushing a wave of steel towards the UK”.
McDiarmid said the union appreciated the “consistent support” given by the Labor government (including the costly takeover of British Steel) and added that it planned to “work closely” with the government on “further steps to strengthen” the sector.
