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The European Union declared plans to adopt Donald Trump's import duties on steel, increasing to double taxes on foreign steel to 50% in a move condemned as "an existential threat" to the industry in the UK.

Unprecedented Crisis for British Steel Exports

With eighty percent of British exports going to the EU, this change represents the UK steel industry's largest challenge, according to the lobby group representing the industry.

European Commission Measures and Rules

In its plan submitted to the European parliament this week, the EU executive additionally suggested reducing the existing quota for duty-free imports and requiring international producers to declare where the steel was melted and poured to stop Chinese producers diverting exports through other countries.

EU steel sector faced potential collapse – these measures safeguard it so that investments can be made, reduce emissions, and become competitive again.

Overhaul of Existing System

The proposals are designed to supersede a quota system that has been in operation for the last seven years and which is set to expire in 2026 and is now considered outdated. To do nothing could have been "catastrophic" for the industry, a European official said.

Industry Response and Warnings

However, Gareth Stace, head of the trade association British Steel, said Brussels increasing duties would pose "the biggest crisis the British steel sector has encountered".

He called on the government to "recognise the urgent need to put in place domestic protections to defend" the UK steel industry – which is still reeling from a twenty-five percent tariff imposed by the US recently – from the risk of vast quantities of global steel redirected from American and EU markets.

This flood of imports "could be terminal for many of our remaining steel companies.

Labor and Political Pressure

Union leaders, assistant general secretary at steelworkers' union Community, said the new measures represented "an existential threat" to UK steel.

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

Broader Context

Industry leaders in the European Union have also been warning for several months that the European steel sector confronts being "wiped out" through the increased duties on exports to the US along with high energy costs and low-cost Chinese imports.

The steel industry on both sides of the Channel is described as a foundational industry, providing basic materials in everything from building frameworks, renewable energy equipment and transport infrastructure to household appliances and cutlery.

Implementation and Next Steps

The new measures must be agreed by member states and the European parliament, with the EU executive head urging member states and MEPs to move quickly in backing the proposal.

If the plan is ratified, the European Union will reduce its existing tariff-free allowance by forty-seven percent to 18.3m tonnes a year, a level last seen in 2013. It will impose a 50% duty on foreign steel exceeding the limit and require nations shipping to the EU to declare the production origin to prevent circumvention of the sanctions.

Exceptions and International Cooperation

These European nations will not be subject to import limits or tariffs due to their strong economic ties in the European Economic Area, the EU has said.

Alongside the proposal, the EU is pursuing a "metals alliance" with the US to ringfence their national industries from excess production.

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