The British Steel Association expressed concern about the 25% tariff imposed by the United States on steel and steel-derived products. The association believes this will have extremely serious consequences for UK suppliers and their customers in the US. The indirect impact is that tariffs will divert steel originally shipped to the United States to the UK and other markets.

The United States is the second largest export market for British steel after the European Union, mainly importing special steel used in important areas such as defense, oil and gas, construction equipment, and packaging.

Since steel safeguard quotas were first implemented in 2018, the UK’s steel quota has increased by 22%, yet demand in the UK has fallen by 16%. The British Steel Association warned that too many quotas would not effectively protect the UK from trade diversion. The association pointed out that the UK must strengthen existing protection measures and asked the British government to continue negotiating tax exemptions with the United States.