Steel tariff hike by the EU could perhaps very well be the biggest crisis the UK steel industry has ever gone on to face.
It is well to be noted that the commission has set out plans to go ahead and cut the amount of steel that can get imported into the bloc by 50% – beyond which new 50% tariffs are going to apply.
The fact is that the EU happens to be the most important export destination for steel for the UK, worth almost £3bn, and happens to represent 78% of steel products that are made in the UK for the overseas markets.
Apparently, the commission has come under immense pressure from some of the member states as well as their steel industries, which have apparently been struggling to compete with cheap imports coming from countries such as China and Turkey.
The EU has already started proposing to reduce tariff-free quotas when it comes to imports to 18.3 million tonnes per year, which is a 47% reduction from the 2024 levels.
The new measures, apparently, are going to come into force in early 2026; however, these are going to be the first that need to be approved by the majority of the EU member states as well as the European Parliament.
According to the European Commission’s executive vice president for prosperity and industrial strategy, Stéphane Séjourné, they happen to have global overcapacity, state aid, and unfair competition, as well as undercutting in prices, and the fact is that they are reacting to it.
He told a European Parliament news conference at Strasbourg that eighteen thousand jobs were lost in the steel sector in 2024, which is far too many, and they had to put a stop to that.
Apparently, the announcement happens to be another blow to the UK steel industry, after a proposed deal so as to eliminate tariffs on UK steel exports to the US went on to be put on hold indefinitely in September 2025.
The point is that there are many firms that are already in dire financial crisis.
Interestingly, the government took control of the Chinese-owned plants based at Scunthorpe earlier in 2025, while the Liberty Steel plants based in Rotherham and Stocksbridge collapsed into government control in September 2025.
Speaking on his way to India on October 7, 2025, the prime minister said there is going to be strong support coming from the government for the British steel industry, which, by the way, could be massively affected due to steel tariff hike by the EU.
Sir Keir Starmer said that he will be able to talk more about it only in due course; however, they are in discussions, as one would expect. He refused to get into the details of any discussion, which included if the UK was looking out for exemptions from the rules.
Giving a response to the announcement, Gareth Stace, the director general of UK Steel, said that the government should go all out to make utmost use of their trading relationship with the EU so as to secure UK country quotas or else potentially face the disaster.
The move by the European Union happens to be partly a response to US President Donald Trump, who had sharply raised the tariffs on foreign steel earlier in 2025, citing concern pertaining to China, and has also pushed other countries to go ahead and take similar steps.
It is well to be noted that Canada, Mexico, and Brazil have also moved to go ahead and increase protections for the domestic steelmakers, therefore in a way responding to concerns pertaining to those firms’ losing business in the US while at the same time also facing increased competition at home from the shipments getting shifted from America.
Mr. Stace also went on to caution against the measures from the EU, which are redirecting millions of tons of steel towards the UK, something that could very well be the end for many of their remaining steel companies.
Notably, the Community Union, which represented the UK steelworkers, has called the measures an existential threat to the industry.
Asked about the UK concerns, Maros Sefcovic, the European trade commissioner, said at a press conference that he anticipates going ahead and completely engaging with the UK on this issue, therefore suggesting that a specific UK quota might as well be negotiated in the time to come.
The Department for Business, in a statement, said that it was pushing the European Commission for an immediate clarification of the effect of this move on the UK.
As per Chris McDonald, the industry minister, it is, as a matter of fact, pretty vital that they protect trade flows between the UK as well as the EU, and they are going to work along with their closest allies in order to address the international challenges and not add to their industries’ woes.
This government has already shown its bent towards their steel industry through securing preferential access when it comes to the US market for their exporters, and they shall continue to explore trade measures that are way stronger so as to protect the UK steel producers from the unfair behaviors.
The government has said that the industry minister is good with the steel representatives so as to discuss the challenges that they are facing.
The vice-chair of the European Parliament’s committee on global trade, Kathleen Van Brempt, remarked that she will advocate for the UK in the days to come, adding that the UK for them is a very close ally indeed.
A major blow
The UK managing director at Marcegaglia in Sheffield, Liam Bates,happens to make stainless steel products and also exports to the EU. He opines that the announcement was indeed a big blow.
He added that it must be indeed amongst the biggest challenges that they have faced for a very long time, and the fact of the matter now is on the detail. Is there going to be any deal done by the UK government in order to soften the blow?
He further said that they have no tariffs on Europe themselves, so one would indeed anticipate some reciprocity on that front so that they are not treated in a similar way. That is the sort of detail they are hoping the government is going to be working towards.
In the meanwhile, he said the future trade with EU customers happens to be a concern.
They have good relationships with their customers, and they shall be communicating with them, however all of it puts a strain on their business immediately.
Their customers are in there for the long term, and so there is indeed going to be questions on whether there are long-term relationships which can still be had in the face of such kind of quotas.