Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of EU measures to limit imports of steel into the EU in response to the imposition of metal tariffs by the United States; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the UK steel industry of being excluded from those measures after the UK leaves the EU.

The EU measures and tariff rate quotas are designed to prevent serious injury occurring to EU steel producers while maintaining as far as possible traditional trade flows. The level of utilisation of the quotas varies by product category. It is too early to assess the effect of the measures on the UK steel industry.

In the event that the UK leaves the EU with no deal, Government’s priority is to provide continuity for UK industry wherever possible. Our transition policy is therefore to ensure UK industry retains appropriate trade remedy protections on exit, and so we are committed to carrying across existing measures where there is a UK interest, and then reviewing them to make them UK specific. We will follow this approach for any definitive safeguard measures that are in place on exit, as well as for existing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures.