UK to raise steel tariffs to 50 percent in new sector strategy this week
There will “be some exemptions” for products British steelmakers don’t make, they added.
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Trade Secretary Peter Kyle is expected to announce the U.K.’s steel strategy at Tata Steel UK’s mill in Port Talbot on Thursday.
The strategy will set out new protections for Britain’s steel sector, slashing quotas on imports of many products from overseas while raising duties outside those caps to 50 percent, two people familiar with the announcement told POLITICO.
“The tariff will be doubled to 50 percent in line with what the Europeans have done, the Canadians have done, the Americans have done,” a senior business representative familiar with the plans said. There will “be some exemptions” for products British steelmakers don’t make, they added.
British officials have told both U.K. steel producers and downstream importers, who use steel in everything from construction to automotive manufacturing, to expect a 50 percent duty outside of new quotas in a move “likely to be similar to the EU,” said a second industry figure.
Both industry figures were granted anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Last October, the EU announced plans to reduce its quotas on foreign steel imports by almost half and levy a 50 percent tariff on goods exceeding the cap. The move is part of an overhaul of so-called safeguard protections that expire in both the EU and U.K., under World Trade Organization rules, at the end of June.
The U.K.’s strategy setting out the future of the sector has been repeatedly delayed. On Thursday, Kyle will set out a new scheme of trade protections to replace the so-called steel safeguards scheme.
A Tata Steel UK executive told lawmakers in early February that the government 'had eight weeks to save the British steel industry' by shielding it with new protectionist measures from a glut of cheap imports from countries like China.
Steel importers, however, are unlikely to get the full gamut of exemptions under the scheme they had hoped for, said the second industry figure, noting they’re “prepared for the worst.” The government will “jeopardize downstream manufacturers if they make the import restrictions too prohibitive,” they said.
“There will be some exemptions, but not as many as they hoped for,” said the senior business representative.
'This government has been crystal clear in committing to a bright and sustainable future for steelmaking and steel jobs in the U.K., and we will publish a steel strategy shortly setting out how we can achieve a sustainable future for the sector,' said a government spokesperson.
Courtesy: www.politico.eu