Commenting on the announcement that the EU and US had reached a deal on Section 232 steel tariffs, Gareth Stace, Director General of UK Steel, said:
“This announcement will receive a mixed response from steel companies. Whilst it is promising to see the US take steps to open up access to its steel markets again, there is significant concern that UK producers have been left behind in this process and continue to wait for their own deal.
“The substantial competitive advantage that this deal provides EU steel producers over UK ones will undoubtedly result in our export orders to the US market being lost to EU exporters until such time as the UK Government secures a similar deal. Without this, EU steel landing at US ports, will almost always be favoured over, what will be more costly UK metal. This significantly increases the urgency and need for the UK Government to deliver the exemption from Section 232 measures we have called for since 2018.
“We welcome the UK Government’s readiness to resume trade talks with the US and we look forward to seeing concrete outcomes that will put us on a level playing field with our competitors. The tariffs reduced UK exports to the US by nearly 50%, a deal is sorely needed to repair this damage to our export interests.”
News-from-UK-Steel-UK-Steel-Comments-on-EU-US-Steel-Tariff-Deal.pdf