Committee publication · Correspondence · 22 May 2026
Letter to the Secretary of State relating to the UK's steel trade measures, 22 May 2026
From: Business and Trade Committee
Inquiry: Industrial Strategy
Summary
The Business and Trade Committee writes to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade expressing serious concerns about newly announced UK steel trade measures. Following a 21 May 2026 roundtable with 16 downstream businesses, the committee reports that the measures—comprising tariffs and import quotas—risk immediate harm to defence, aerospace, metal forming, and fabricated steel sectors. The committee seeks clarification on quota methodology, tariff rates, and whether implementation can be delayed or tapered.
Key findings
- Sixteen businesses from defence, aerospace, metal forming, and fabricated steel sectors report that current measures risk serious harm to UK growth, exports, and national security; some firms have already made redundancies and experienced significant order slowdowns.
- UK steel mills cannot supply specialist grades (categories 14 and 27) not currently produced domestically, yet these categories are subject to quotas; downstream industries report mills may not meet needs until 2028–2029.
- Fabricated steelwork sector faces perverse incentives: primary steel inputs face quotas and tariffs, but imported fabricated goods do not, allowing competitors to circumvent protections (Canada closed this loophole in November 2025; the UK did not).
- Metal forming sector faces a 90% reduction in EU quotas for category 1 and 50% for category 4, creating an imminent July implementation cliff-edge; several companies have already initiated redundancies or diverted production to EU facilities.
- Downstream industries report being overlooked in consultation and receiving no satisfactory response to raised concerns; defence suppliers emphasise long-term fixed-price contracts cannot absorb sudden tariff costs.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Peter Kyle, Liam Byrne MP, Business and Trade Committee, Department for Business and Trade, British Steel, Defence sector suppliers, Aerospace sector, Metal forming businesses
Notable line
“Indeed, the measures appear to have already significantly impacted firms.”
Key Quotes
“The consistent message was that, in their current form, the measures risk serious and immediate harm to downstream industries that are critical to UK growth, exports, and national security.”
“If the purpose of the measures is to protect UK steel production, then it is unclear as to why import quotas should apply to categories of products not produced in the UK.”
“UK mills, the evidence we heard suggests that, in its current form, the policy risks achieving this not by strengthening domestic capacity, but by shuttering downstream industries.”
“… one business, a firm can simply "drill a hole in a section of steel" and import it tariff-free to the UK.”
“The measures therefore give firms the choice of an unreliable domestic monopoly, or prohibitively expensive imports.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗