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EU officials have announced they will mirror Donald Trump's import duties on steel, increasing to double levies on foreign steel to fifty percent in a action described as "an existential threat" to the sector in the UK.

Major Challenge for British Steel Exports

With eighty percent of UK steel shipments destined for the European Union, this policy shift represents the UK steel industry's biggest ever challenge, according to the industry association representing the sector.

New EU Proposals and Rules

In its plan presented to the European parliament on Tuesday, the EU executive also proposed reducing the current allowance for duty-free imports and requiring international producers to declare where the steel was melted and poured to stop Chinese producers sneaking products in through third nations.

EU steel sector stood at the brink of failure – we are protecting it so that investments can be made, reduce emissions, and regain competitiveness.

Overhaul of Existing System

The proposals are intended to supersede a quota system that has been functioning for the past seven years and which is due to expire in 2026 and is now considered not fit for purpose. Inaction could have been "catastrophic" for the industry, a European official said.

Industry Response and Concerns

However, Gareth Stace, head of the trade association British Steel, stated EU increasing duties would create "the biggest crisis the UK steel industry has ever faced".

He called on the UK authorities to "recognise the critical necessity to put in place domestic protections to protect" the British steel sector – which is still reeling from a twenty-five percent duty imposed by the US earlier this year – from the risk of vast quantities of world steel redirected from US and European markets.

This surge in foreign steel "might prove terminal for many of our remaining steel companies.

Labor and Political Calls

Union leaders, representative at steelworkers' union Community, said the new measures posed "a survival risk" to British steel production.

Labor and business representatives urged Keir Starmer to start negotiations urgently with the EU on nation-specific duty-free quotas, pointing out that the United Kingdom was now the EU's No 1 export market.

Broader Context

Sector representatives in the European Union have also been warning for months that the European steel sector faces being "eliminated" through the increased duties on exports to the US along with high energy costs and cheap Chinese competition.

The steel industry on both sides of the Channel is described as a essential sector, supplying elemental components in products ranging from building frameworks, wind turbines and railways to household appliances and cutlery.

Implementation and Future Actions

The new measures require approval by EU nations and the EU legislature, with the EU executive head urging national governments and European parliament members to act fast in backing the initiative.

Should approval be granted, the European Union will cut its current duty-free quota by forty-seven percent to 18.3 million tons a year, a volume last seen in 2013. It will impose a fifty percent duty on imports exceeding the limit and require nations shipping to the bloc to state where the steel was melted and poured to avoid bypassing of the measures.

Exceptions and Global Partnerships

These European nations will be exempt from tariff quotas or duties because of their strong economic ties in the EEA, the EU has confirmed.

Alongside the proposal, the European Union is pursuing a "steel partnership" with the United States to protect their national industries from excess production.

EU must take immediate action, and decisively, prior to all lights go out in significant portions of the European steel sector and its supply networks.