UK-based trade association UK Steel has welcomed Trump’s decision to keep tariffs on UK steelmakers at 25 percent with the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal announcements in May; however, it stated that the US and the UK must urgently turn the May deal into reality to remove the tariffs completely.
On or after July 9, the US will likely finalize the agreement to replace tariffs with tariff-free quotas or choose to pull tariffs up to 50 percent for the UK.
“Continued 25 percent tariffs will benefit shipments already on the water that we were concerned would fall under a tax hike. However, uncertainty remains over timings and final tariff rates, and now US customers will be dubious over whether they should even risk making UK orders,” Gareth Stace, director-general of UK Steel, said and added that it is time for the UK government to take decisive action domestically on trade defense as trade diversion switching gears into the UK after the EU stepped up its trade defenses. According to the statement, imports are flooding into the UK market, depressing steel prices and taking away market share.
