Trump tariffs: UK to dodge 50 per cent steel and aluminium levies
President Trump exempted UK industry from a doubling of the rate of steel and aluminium tariffs up to 50 per cent, but businesses will still face a 25 per cent levy until a new trading relationship with the US is finalised.
Though industry bosses had been braced to be hit by the 50 per cent rate, pressure is growing on Sir Keir Starmer to thrash out the final details of the US-UK trade deal.
In an executive order announced in a post on X, Trump said: “I have further determined that it is necessary and appropriate to allow for the implementation of the U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal of May 8, 2025 (EPD), and to accordingly provide different treatment.”
The trade deal is set to eliminate the tariffs on steel and aluminium if the UK meets its pledge to cut China out of supply chains.
In a statement following the announcement, a government spokesperson said: “We’re pleased that as a result of our agreement with the US, UK steel will not be subject to these additional tariffs.
“We will continue to work with the US to implement our agreement, which will see the 25 per cent US tariffs on steel removed.”
But a move that is likely to make the government’s trade team nervous, Trump added that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “may increase the applicable rates of duty to 50 percent if he determines that the United Kingdom has not complied with relevant aspects of the EPD.”
Trade deal or no deal on tariffs?
Pressure is mounting on the Prime Minister to deliver on his much-vaunted new trading arrangement with the US.
On Tuesday, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith launched a multi-pronged attack on the government’s trade policy, accusing Jonathan Reynolds of failing to properly engage with Howard Lutnick whilst suggesting that the deal has “not been signed, published and presented in any form”.
The former Treasury minister questioned: “was the announcement of a UK-US trade deal pushed through for political reasons?”
UK Steel’s Gareth Stace warned in March that tariffs “couldn’t come at a worse time for the UK steel industry, as we battle with high energy costs and subdued demand at home, against an oversupplied and increasingly protectionist global landscape”.