Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect the US Steel tariffs have had on the UK steel sector since they came into place.

We are working closely with affected companies across the UK steel industry to fully evaluate the impact of these measures on the UK. The total value of US imports of steel from the UK in 2017 was £360m which amounts to 7% of UK steel exports.

We remain deeply disappointed that the US has decided to apply tariffs to steel and aluminium imports from the EU on national security grounds. The UK and other European Union countries are close allies of the US and should be permanently and fully exempted from the tariffs.

We will continue to work closely with the EU and US Administration to seek a constructive, permanent resolution to avoid further escalation that would harm businesses and consumers in both the US and EU.