UK will not rush to respond as Trump tariffs take ‘sledgehammer to free trade’

Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on imports of steel from the UK will not trigger a “knee-jerk” response from the Government despite warnings about the devastating impact on the industry.

Trade minister Douglas Alexander said the Government would adopt a “cool and clearheaded” approach rather than rushing into retaliatory measures.

The steel industry body said Mr Trump’s announcement had taken a “sledgehammer to free trade”.

Ministers are holding talks with the industry before the commencement of the tariffs on US steel imports from March 12.

Mr Alexander told MPs: “What British industry needs and deserves is not a knee-jerk reaction, but a cool and clearheaded sense of the UK’s national interest based on a full assessment of all the implications of the US actions.”

He added that the UK had a “strong and balanced trade relationship” with the US.

“We stand ready to work with President Trump to find solutions that work for both the United Kingdom and the United States,” he added.

Britain exported 166,433 tonnes of steel to the US in 2023, the last full year for which figures are available.

Figures from trade body UK Steel showed that in 2024 some 162,716 tonnes were sent to the US, but that does not yet include data from December.

UK Steel warned the tariffs “would be a devastating blow to our industry”.

Mr Trump said the tariffs are “the beginning of making America rich again”.

Mr Trump has argued that the measures are necessary to protect the US steel industry and national security.

But UK Steel dismissed the president’s claim that steel imports from Australia, the EU, Japan, and the UK rose from 18.6% in 2020 to 20.7% in 2024 because it ignored the demand-lowering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

UK steel exports to the US were actually 14% lower in 2024 than in 2018 when tariffs were introduced by Mr Trump in his first term in the White House.

UK Steel director-general Gareth Stace said: “President Trump has taken a sledgehammer to free trade, with huge ramifications for the steel sector in the UK and across the world.

“This will not only hinder UK exports to the US, but it will also have hugely distortive effects on international trade flows, adding further import pressure to our own market.

“UK steel poses no threat to US national security. Our high-quality products serve key US industries, many of which cannot source these domestically.

“This is a moment where our countries should work together to tackle global steel overproduction, not to be at loggerheads.”

Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary at the Community union, which represents many steelworkers, said: “The new tariff confirmed by Donald Trump is a huge cause for concern, and represents a retrograde step for the steel industry and economies on both sides of the Atlantic.

“There is now an even greater need for comprehensive safeguards to protect our domestic steel from cheap overseas steel imports.”

Downing Street declined to criticise the US president’s decision.

The Prime Minister is hoping to visit Washington in the coming weeks for face-to-face talks with Mr Trump, but no details have yet been confirmed on the timing of the trip.

Asked if the US President’s tariffs were wrong, Sir Keir’s official spokesman said: “We will take a considered approach to this. We will engage with the US on the detail, but the Government is clear we will work in our national interest and this issue is no different to that.”

Asked if the UK is prepared to enact retaliatory tariffs, the spokesman said he was not going to “get ahead” of conversations with the steel industry.

The decision to impose tariffs on UK steel presents an early challenge for the UK’s new ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson.

He said “President Trump’s administration is shaping up to be one of the most consequential periods in modern America” and he has been “energised by the opportunities opening up” for closer collaboration.

He said Sir Keir Starmer’s Government can “always make our views known privately and directly” to Mr Trump but that it must “understand what drives him”.

Lord Mandelson acknowledged he is “concerned” about the looming prospect of tariffs and said Britain will “not necessarily agree” with every detail of the new US president’s agenda.

Asked how the UK could try to persuade Mr Trump to change his position on certain policy areas without alienating his administration, he told the BBC: “Well, we’ve got to take all these issues as they come, realise that the president has a very strong and clear mandate for change in the United States.

“Now that doesn’t mean to say that we’re going to agree in Britain with every single detail of what he does, but we have to respect and understand what drives him, what his mandate is to do, and how his allies need to adjust sometimes.”

Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is leading the Government’s efforts to get closer trade ties with the European Union, said the UK will not choose between Brussels and Washington.

He said there are significant opportunities to improve trade and deepen relationships with both the EU and US.

He told MPs: “I think it’s perfectly possible to cuddle more than one person at the same time.”