Steel chiefs say customers already moving to cancel orders after Trump tariffs

Bosses at Tata Steel UK and British Steel said customers are taking steps to cancel orders after Donald Trump slapped trade tariffs on US metals imports.

The US president has brought in a 25% tariff on global steel and aluminium imports, and recently told reporters there would be no exceptions to the levy.

Tata’s UK chief executive Rajesh Nair told MPs: “The customers are spooked and the customers are wanting to go to other suppliers to make sure that they don’t get caught in the tariff warfare.

“So customers are already talking to us and wanting to cancel orders and in some cases are asking us for compensation for potential orders.”

Damage

Mr Nair added that the damage to sales and profits could be “significant”.

Unlike the EU, which announced counter-measures on a range of American goods, the UK Government has resisted taking immediate retaliatory action against the tariffs but says “all options” remain on the table to respond in the national interest.

Speaking to the Business and Trade Committee, Allan Bell, chief commercial officer at British Steel, said the group supplies around 50,000 tonnes of steel into the US market.

He said where there is a domestic producer in the US for the same products supplied by British Steel, they have had to “exit that business immediately”.

He added: “We’ve got customers that are concerned about the impact of the tariffs and, at the moment, are considering order cancellation.”

Exports

Mr Bell added that in cases where British Steel is the sole supplier, its customers have told the group they are “making moves to purchase that steel elsewhere”.

“It will take them nine months to develop tooling capabilities with domestic producers.

“It won’t hurt us immediately, but we anticipate that there will be damage done in circa nine months’ time.”

The Government has said around 5% of UK steel exports and 6% of aluminium exports by volume go to the US, although trade bodies for both industries claim that is an underestimate of the scale of shipments across the Atlantic.

The move is the latest blow to a steel industry, which has seen thousands of job losses in recent years due to issues including global competition, high energy costs and the shift to cleaner technologies.