The UK steel industry is preparing for a sudden drop in trade starting on New Year's Day, when its European Union competitors will gain a 25% price advantage by selling to the huge US market.
The EU and the US have reached a Halloween deal to remove tariffs on the quota of steel and aluminum imported from the bloc to the US from 1 January, but tariffs will remain on all UK steel and aluminum exports after government talks failed to provide a corresponding breakthrough.
Earlier this month, international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan invited the US trade secretary in London for what appears to be scheduled for January. But an industry source said they are not optimistic that an agreement will be reached quickly.
The tariffs were first introduced by former president Donald Trump in 2018 under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act on national security grounds. The imports are said to supposedly undermine the US's ability to produce its own steel.
UK exports to the EU could also be affected by an unusually strict clause in the EU-US deal. This means that UK steel will continue to attract tariffs even if it is worked and exported by EU companies.
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