🔗 Share this article

The European Union have announced plans to mirror the United States' steel tariffs, increasing to double levies on foreign steel to 50% in a action condemned as "a survival risk" to the sector in Britain.

Major Challenge for UK Steel Industry

With eighty percent of UK steel shipments going to the European Union, this policy shift creates the UK steel industry's biggest ever challenge, according to the industry association representing the industry.

European Commission Measures and Regulations

In its plan submitted to the EU legislature on Tuesday, the EU executive also proposed slashing the current allowance for duty-free imports and obliging international producers to disclose where the steel was melted and poured to prevent China diverting exports through other countries.

The European steel industry stood at the brink of failure – these measures safeguard it so that it can invest, decarbonise, and become competitive again.

Replacement of Existing System

The proposals are intended to supersede a import framework that has been functioning for the last seven years and which is due to expire in 2026 and is now seen as ineffective. To do nothing could have been "catastrophic" for the industry, a European official said.

Sector Response and Warnings

However, Gareth Stace, head of the trade association UK Steel, said EU doubling its tariffs would pose "the biggest crisis the British steel sector has ever faced".

He called on the government to "recognise the urgent need to implement its own measures to defend" the British steel sector – which is still reeling from a twenty-five percent duty imposed by the US recently – from the risk of vast quantities of global steel diverted away from American and EU markets.

This surge in foreign steel "could be terminal for numerous steel companies.

Union and Political Pressure

Union leaders, assistant general secretary at labor union the industry union, said the proposed changes posed "a survival risk" to British steel production.

Unions and industry leaders called on Keir Starmer to begin talks immediately with the European Union on nation-specific tariff exemptions, noting that the UK was now the EU's primary trading partner.

Industry Background

Industry leaders in the EU have also been warning for several months that the European steel sector faces being "wiped out" through the new 50% tariffs on exports to the US combined with high energy costs and cheap Chinese competition.

Steel on in both the UK and EU is considered a essential sector, supplying basic materials in everything from skyscraper structures, wind turbines and transport infrastructure to dishwashers and cutlery.

Adoption and Future Actions

The new measures must be agreed by EU nations and the European parliament, with the European Commission president urging member states and European parliament members to act fast in backing the initiative.

If the plan is ratified, the European Union will cut its existing tariff-free allowance by forty-seven percent to 18.3m tonnes a year, a level previously recorded in 2013. It will impose a fifty percent tariff on imports beyond the quota and require nations exporting into the EU to declare where the steel was melted and poured to prevent circumvention of the measures.

Exemptions and International Cooperation

Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein will be exempt from import limits or duties due to their close trading relationship in the European Economic Area, the European Union has said.

Alongside the proposal, the European Union is pursuing a "metals alliance" with the US to ringfence their respective economies from overcapacity.

The European Union needs to act now, and firmly, prior to all lights go out in large parts of the European steel sector and its supply networks.