The European Union is threatening the Britain’s steel industry with “existential” tariffs of up to 50 percent only months after Sir Keir Starmer promised a restart of relations with Brussels.
On Tuesday, Brussels was preparing to impose overwhelming taxes on all imports that enter the block, amid fears that a cheap steel avalanche of Asia is crushing the national industries.
However, British steel producers have warned that they will also be affected by repression, which makes a blow that runs the risk of being fatal for many companies.
This is because about 78pc of all Britain’s steel exports currently go to the EU, or around 1.9 million tons.
The dispute will be seen as a shame for Starmer, who made great concessions on fishing and youth migration in May in his attempt to improve later Brexit relationships with Brussels.
It could also give another blow to the impulse of the Prime Minister to revitalize the British industry, after Donald Trump’s commercial rates were affected by Donald Trump’s commercial tariffs.
Brussels steel rates have the potential to cause much more damage than President Trump, and the United Kingdom’s commercial body says they could unleash “the greatest crisis that the industry has faced” and risk being “terminal” for many companies.
Unlike those sent to the EU, only the 7pc of Great Britain’s steel exports are sent to the United States.
The new “protection measures” of the EU would impose tariffs up to 50 percent in several steel products imported from outside the block, once they exceed a quota established at the 2013 levels, the Financial Times reported.
At the same time, British companies fear that prohibitive tariffs prohibitively drive foreign exporters to divert their steel to the United Kingdom, which further undermines the national industry.
In this context, Whitehall officials are fighting to ensure divisions for British companies.
Steel companies are also pressing the government to impose their own strictest restrictions on foreign imports from outside the EU.
Peter Brennan, from the United Kingdom, warned that the plans would offer a potentially “devastating” success to producers.
He said: “These rates would be a massive problem for British steel companies at a time when they are already under a lot of pressure.
“If we cannot obtain our own fees for what the EU is doing and cannot continue exporting in similar volumes, it becomes an existential problem for the industry.”
Great Britain’s exports to the block should, in theory, be free of rates under the Brexit Free Trade Agreement.
However, Brennan said the agreement allowed both parties to maintain certain “safeguards” in their place.
These installments are imposed on how much of certain products can be imported from several countries before the highest tariffs are activated. The system is very complicated and different fees are imposed for each product and country individually.
(Tagstotranslate) Keir Starmer (T) Brussels (T) Steel rates