Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has announced a significant tightening of the UK’s steel import protections, in a move hailed by industry leaders as critical to safeguarding domestic production from a potential flood of cheap foreign steel.
The government will reduce the annual liberalisation of steel import quotas from 3% to just 0.1%, bringing the UK in line with the European Union’s more cautious approach. The decision comes in response to growing concerns over redirected global steel supply, particularly following a fresh round of U.S. tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump.
The UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) had recommended maintaining existing safeguards, but Reynolds opted to go further, also introducing a cap on residual quotas to prevent any one country from dominating UK steel imports. In a letter to TRA Chair Nick Baird, the Business Secretary confirmed additional support for reforms preventing the rollover of unused quarterly quotas and restricting access to residual quotas in the final quarter by countries with their own specific allocations.
Gareth Stace, Director-General of UK Steel, welcomed the move as a “tremendous outcome” for the industry. “This is a strong demonstration of the Secretary of State’s commitment to our sector. These measures will help protect us from unfair competition and steel diversion resulting from U.S. and EU protectionism,” he said.
The UK steel industry, which employs more than 33,000 people, has been under pressure from rising energy costs, foreign subsidies, and international market volatility. Industry groups have long feared that global oversupply — especially from China, Turkey and India — could destabilise domestic production if protective measures were not strengthened.
With Trump’s new tariffs threatening to push more steel onto smaller markets like the UK, the risk of dumping — where producers offload excess product at unsustainably low prices — has increased. The new UK safeguards are designed to curb such risks and prevent further erosion of the country’s steelmaking base, which is vital to sectors including construction, automotive, defence, and energy.
Stace urged the government to go further, calling for the introduction of a new trade defence mechanism when current safeguards expire. “We need legislation that gives government the tools to respond to subsidised steel distorting global markets. The new Trade Strategy is an opportunity to deliver just that,” he said.
The Department for Business and Trade confirmed that further details on the UK’s Trade Strategy — including potential legislative proposals to reinforce trade defences — will be released later this summer. Reynolds’ intervention signals a more assertive, industrial strategy-driven approach by the new Labour government.
