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The European Union declared plans to match the United States' import duties on steel, effectively doubling levies on foreign steel to fifty percent in a move condemned as "an existential threat" to the industry in Britain.

Unprecedented Crisis for UK Steel Industry

With 80% of UK steel shipments going to the European Union, this change poses the British steel sector's largest crisis, according to the industry association representing the sector.

New EU Proposals and Rules

In its plan submitted to the EU legislature this week, the European Commission also proposed reducing the current allowance for duty-free imports and requiring foreign suppliers to state where the steel was melted and poured to prevent Chinese producers diverting exports through third nations.

EU steel sector was on the verge of collapse – these measures safeguard it so that investments can be made, decarbonise, and become competitive again.

Replacement of Current Framework

The proposals are intended to replace a import framework that has been functioning for the past seven years and which is set to expire in 2026 and is now considered outdated. To do nothing could have been "disastrous" for the industry, one EU official said.

Industry Response and Warnings

However, Gareth Stace, from the trade association UK Steel, stated EU increasing duties would create "the most severe challenge the British steel sector has encountered".

He called on the UK authorities to "acknowledge the critical necessity to implement domestic protections to protect" the UK steel industry – which is still reeling from a twenty-five percent tariff from Trump earlier this year – from the risk of millions of tonnes of global steel redirected from US and European markets.

This surge in foreign steel "could be terminal for many of our remaining steel companies.

Labor and Government Calls

Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary at steelworkers' union Community, stated the proposed changes represented "a survival risk" to British steel production.

Unions and industry leaders called on Keir Starmer to begin talks immediately with the European Union on nation-specific tariff exemptions, noting that the UK was now the EU's No 1 trading partner.

Industry Background

Sector representatives in the European Union have repeatedly cautioned for several months that the European steel sector confronts being "wiped out" through the new 50% tariffs on exports to the US along with high energy costs and cheap Chinese competition.

Steel on both sides of the Channel is considered a essential sector, supplying elemental components in everything from building frameworks, wind turbines and railways to dishwashers and cutlery.

Implementation and Next Steps

These proposals must be agreed by member states and the European parliament, with the EU executive head calling on member states and European parliament members to act fast in support of the proposal.

If the plan is ratified, the EU will cut its existing tariff-free allowance by 47% to 18.3m tonnes a year, a level previously recorded in 2013. It will apply a 50% tariff on imports beyond the quota and require nations shipping to the bloc to state the production origin to prevent circumvention of the measures.

Exemptions and Global Partnerships

Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein will be exempt from tariff quotas or tariffs due to their strong economic ties in the EEA, the EU has confirmed.

Alongside the proposal, the EU is seeking a "steel partnership" with the United States to ringfence their national industries from excess production.

The European Union needs to act now, and decisively, prior to all lights go out in large parts of the European steel sector and its supply networks.