MPs raise concerns over steel tariffs with US trade officials

MPs from steel-making areas of the UK met with trade officials from the US embassy to raise concerns about the impact of tariffs.

Members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Steel urged the United States to drop the tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the UK.

Gregory Burton, Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, and John Simmons, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, took questions from the MPs representing steel communities.

Following the meeting, Scunthorpe Labour MP Nic Dakin, said: "We were pleased to meet with the team from the US Embassy and share our concerns about the potentially negative impact on both the UK steel industry and US manufacturing.

"In a courteous, robust discussion steel MPs made very clear their disappointment with US tariffs being imposed and urged the US to drop them."

Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, said President Donald Trump's steel tariffs were a "shameless and disgraceful example of the kind of grandstanding and short-sighted nationalism that could lead to the destruction of thousands of jobs, both here in the UK and in the US.

"Trump's scattergun tariffs hit all the wrong targets. They will damage Britain - America's supposedly closest ally - every bit as much as China, the real villains of the piece with its government-backed illegal dumping of steel into global markets."