“We are going to be imposing a 25 per cent increase. We’re going to bring it from 25 per cent to 50 per cent – the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States,” he said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Donald Trump said the higher tariffs will help keep jobs for steel workers in the US (Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty)
He later posted on social media that it was a “great honour” to increase the tariffs on steel and aluminium and that they would take effect on Wednesday.
In 2024, the UK exported 180,000 tonnes of semi-finished and finished steel to the US, worth £370m, some 7 per cent of the UK’s total steel exports by volume and 9 per cent by value, according to trade body UK Steel.
When Trump first announced 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium in April, the British steel industry warned that jobs could be at risk.
At the time, the Prime Minister said the historic deal delivers for British business and workers protecting thousands of British jobs in key sectors including steel.
The UK has just one remaining steel plant, British Steel’s Scunthorpe factory, which the Government used emergency legislation to to keep furnaces running.
UK steel firms fear cancelled orders
Although the UK and US have agreed a trade deal, this is yet to come into effect.
The text of the agreement stated that tariffs will only be lowered if US requirements are met on the “security of supply chains” and the “nature of ownership of the relevant production facilities”.
The UK steel industry has been plunged into confusion by Trump’s tariffs announcements, UK Steel said (Photo: Danny Lawson/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“The announcement that US steel tariffs could jump up to 50 per cent on Wednesday is yet another body blow for all UK steelmakers in this torrid time. UK steel companies are this morning fearful that orders will now be cancelled, some of which are likely being shipped across the Atlantic as we speak,” Mr Stace said.
“Uncertainty remains as to whether and when our second biggest export market will be open for business or is being firmly shut in our faces,” Mr Stace said.
What impact are the tariffs having on UK growth?
Alan Taylor, who was appointed to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee last year, told the Financial Times: “I’m seeing more risk piling up on the downside scenario because of global developments,” he said, adding that the impact of Trump’s tariffs on imports would “be building up over the rest of this year in terms of trade diversion and drag on growth”.
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