Trump's 25% tariff on our steel exports is a devastating blow for our steel industry

12 March 2025, 18:42 | Updated: 12 March 2025, 21:34

The US imposing a 25% tariff on our steel exports is a devastating blow for our steel industry.

It is unfair, unjustified and it is self-defeating, because the steels we export to the US are highly specialised and essential to key US sectors like aerospace and defence.

It is bad news for US industry and consumers, and it is devastating news for Britain’s steelworkers coming at a time when our industry is already under enormous pressure.

Global steel overcapacity has led to huge increases in cheap imports from Asia, depressing prices here, and we continue to be hamstrung by the UK’s massively uncompetitive energy prices.

The US is our second biggest export market with our trade to the US worth £400m, and we are already seeing crucial contracts being cancelled.

Our members in the steel industry are rightly asking whether these tariffs could be the final straw, whether their jobs are safe and what this latest body blow means for their families and steel communities.

Imposing these tariffs on us is a strange way for the US to treat supposedly its closest ally, and it is desperately disappointing that our government has not been able to secure an exemption.

However Community met with the Business Secretary soon after the announcement, and we received assurances that the Government is doing everything possible to deliver an exemption from the tariffs as part of a wider agreement with the US on trade.

Britain’s steelworkers need their government to put the special relationship into practice and deliver for us an exemption from the steel tariffs. But, even more importantly, we need the Government to urgently and decisively act to strengthen the UK’s trade defences to protect our jobs and industry from import surges.

We know that as a result of the steel tariffs there are going to be millions of tonnes of steel, that had been destined for the US, now floating around the world looking for a new home.

The Government must ensure that our own market is protected, because the consequences of not doing so could be utterly catastrophic.

The EU have already said they will act imminently to strengthen their steel safeguards and, to avoid the UK becoming an import-magnet, we must at least match any measures taken by the EU.

More widely the Government’s commitment to implementing a comprehensive package of measures to back our steel industry, as a crucial part of the industrial strategy, is more important and urgent than ever.

These are exceptional times.

________________

Alasdair McDiarmid is Assistant General Secretary of Community, the largest and leading union in the UK steel industry

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email views@lbc.co.uk