EU plan to match Trump steel tariffs spurs ‘existential threat’ to UK steel industry

Alarm sounds over plan in Brussels to double import tariff to 50% with four-fifths of UK exports heading to Europe

The EU has announced it will match Donald Trump’s steel tariffs, doubling levies on imports to 50% in a move condemned as “an existential threat” to the industry in the UK.

With 80% of British exports going to the EU, the change poses the UK steel industry’s biggest ever crisis, according to the lobby group representing the sector.