Trump tariffs update: 25% remains on steel after White House briefing

2 April 2025

Following the White House briefing note, UK Steel can confirm that the import tariff on steel into the US will remain at 25% - introduced on March 12 - and that new tariffs will not stack.

UK Steel remains deeply concerned regarding the 25% tariffs introduced on 12 March and the impact it is having on our industry. 

UK Steel Director General, Gareth Stace, said:

“The UK Government must continue its efforts to strike a deal with the US, but we recognise that this requires willingness from both sides. Domestic trade policy on the other hand is entirely within the Government’s gift and it can immediately take action to strengthen our trade defences. 

“We cannot afford to wait any longer as our exports are being damaged, and our market is being undercut by rising imports. UK Steel has warned that the steel crisis has been deepening for some time and bold, decisive and significant interventions are needed now.”

Contact details

Louise Young, Campaigns and Engagement Manager, UK Steel 
07388 370176 | Lyoung@makeuk.org

Notes to Editors

UK exports to US: 

• In 2024, the UK exported 180 thousand tonnes of semi-finished and finished steel to the US, worth £370 million. This accounts for 7% of the UK’s total steel exports by volume and 9% by value.
• The UK exported 300Kt (£490mn) of steel to the US in 2017 before Section 232 tariffs were imposed in 2018. The UK exported an average of 200Kt (£320mn) over 2018-2021. The UK and the US agreed a system of tariff rate quotas in 2022 seeing exports recover slightly to 235Kt (£517mn). However, the next two years have seen a tough market for steel as a result of high costs and weak demand, which has impacted UK steel production and exports. In 2023, the UK’s steel exports to the US totalled 165Kt (£388mn). 

Global excess capacity: 

• Global excess capacity was estimated at 602Mt in 2024 and is forecasted to reach 721Mt by 2027 – equivalent more than 100x the UK’s production.
• Capacity expansions in Southeast Asia and the Middle East are continuing at an alarming rate – these are largely state-funded, mostly for high-emission blast furnaces and often do not correspond to domestic demand trends.
• Steel demand is weakening in key markets, notably China, translating into rising oversupply which is dampening steel prices and spilling over into other markets.
• Import pressure on the UK market is on the rise amid a weak demand environment. The import share in 2024 already increased to 65% from 60% in 2022. The sharpest import increases came from non-EU sources, mainly India, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Turkey and Algeria. Importantly, these are also countries that have seen significant increases in imports from China or are within China’s top 10 exporting destinations.
• Over two thirds of steelmaking capacity is in countries that have Net Zero targets later than 2060 or none at all.

UK Steel safeguards: 

• Safeguards are a type of trade remedies measure intended to address unexpected surges in imports that are damaging or threatening to damage domestic producers. Safeguards can take various forms but the most common is a tariff-free quota – this allows the continuation of tariff-free imports at the same level or higher as the period before the safeguard was introduced.
• The UK inherited its steel safeguards from the EU which introduced its own equivalent measure in 2018 principally to guard against import diversion from the US after the introduction of Section 232 tariffs by President Trump. This mechanism expires under WTO rules in June 2026.
• The UK is only partially shielded from trade diversion expected to occur as a result of President Trump’s new 2025 25% steel tariffs. Steel safeguard quotas have been liberalised every year and are now 22% larger than when they were first introduced in 2018. All while UK demand has contracted by 16%.
• Even a small proportion of surplus material ending up in the UK would completely overwhelm the UK steel market. Most of these imports will be of high-emission steel.

EU steel safeguards review: 

• The Commission reviewed its steel safeguards, resulting in tariff-rate quotas becoming more restrictive. The amendments took effect on 1 April. 
• The Commission has reduced the liberalisation rate from 1% to 0.1%, limiting the amount of steel that can be imported into the EU tariff-free. 
• Additionally, countries will no longer be able to use the entire volumes of unused quotas of other countries, including those of Russia and Belarus. The 'carry-over' mechanism, which allowed countries to roll over unused quotas to the next quarter, has also been eliminated for categories with high import pressure and low consumption.

EU Steel Action Plan:

• The European Commission unveiled its bold Action Plan for Steel and Metals on 19 March, which will deliver comprehensive measures to protect and strengthen the European steel industry. It will:

1. Ensure an affordable and secure energy supply for the sector
2. Prevent carbon leakage
3. Promote circularity
4. De-risk decarbonisation
5. Protect quality industrial jobs.