Asked by: Lord Brookman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to protect the British steel industry from cheap imports of foreign steel.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
Trade remedies are currently under EU competence while we remain a Member State. It is for industry to demonstrate prima facie evidence of dumping that is causing material injury to EU producers, to the European Commission. We encourage industry to present such evidence to the Commission. Where evidence is sufficient to justify an investigation, the Commission will do so and present any proposals for imposing duties to Member States.
The UK is committed to a rules-based international trade system and is in the process of establishing the Trade Remedies Authority to ensure that UK businesses continue to be protected from unfair and injurious trade practices once we leave the EU.
The UK is also an active participant in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, which aims to address excess capacity in the steel sector.