Tata Steel bosses hopeful that the impact of Trump’s tariffs can be minimised

Martin Shipton

Senior managers at Tata Steel UK say they are hopeful that a deal will be done between the UK and US Government to minimise the impact of Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs on Britain’s steel industry.

In the wake of a traumatic period for the group’s Port Talbot steelworks, with job losses as a consequence of the shift from blast furnaces to an electric arc furnace, two influential Tata figures have recorded a podcast in which they describe what further help the UK Government can provide.

Speaking alongside the group’s public relations manager Tim Rutter, Tom Evans, the group’s head of public affairs, said: “It will be a blanket set of tariffs applied to everyone and it will be down to each individual country like the UK to negotiate an exemption and at what cost that exemption will be applied.

“It goes to show the challenging global environment we operate in, as a global business. We still export to the US, and in particular we supply a lot of packaging and pipes as well, some of which is made in Trostre [Llanelli].

“It’s too early to tell. It really depends how long it takes to get exemption from the tariffs. If it takes a long time, then the damage will be quite high. If hopefully the UK negotiates an exemption early, or if it negotiates exemptions before they’re applied in March, that would be even better. Time will tell and time will be the measure of the impact.”

Volume

Rutter said: “The interesting thing about it is that [the steel solid by Tata to the US] is not a massive volume, but it’s valuable business for us. A lot of those products that we’re supplying to America aren’t made in America, so hopefully the customers there are going to lobby the US Government and say, ‘Listen guys, we need these products from the UK, and they might have to accept that it will cost them more.”

Evans agreed, saying: “We know there’s a lot of trade challenges for the US in terms of the fact that we supply products that aren’t made there. These are specialist products, and they’re our high end products as well, and very valuable to US consumers, so hopefully the US Government and the US consumer will make the right choice and we continue to export to the US, which is a fantastic market for us.”

In addition, Tata Steel UK has seven requests to the UK Government:

* . Partner with the steel industry to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the future growth of UK manufacturing;

* Address UK industry’s high energy costs;

* Resolve the threat of carbon leakage and secure the UK’s carbon border;

* Place scrap steel at the heart of the green, circular economy;

* Ensure the UK is protected from global steel overcapacity;

* Support UK Steel producers through increased public procurement;

* Put UK steel at the heart of the green economy.

Opportunity

Asked what his single message to UK Parliamentarians would be, Evans said: “Now is the time to act. We’ve got a great opportunity. We’ve just had the[UK Government’s] Industrial Strategy published, we’ve got the Steel Strategy in spring. It’s a great opportunity for us to all agree on what’s needed for the steel industry and the UK’s industrial competitiveness, and hopefully we can move forward at pace. We’re working an 18-24 months timetable to ensure everything is in place before the electric arc furnace is up and running.at Port Talbot. If we have all those ingredients in our plan, it will be a success story.

“If you look at some of the projects which have been the talk of the town in recent months – HS2, Heathrow expansion – they will require a great quantity of steel. And if you look at our energy and the wholesale changes to our infrastructure which will be required, in the next 10 to 20 years, it will require millions of tonnes of steel. I think the best way to look at it is, let’s ensure we make it in the UK and people know we make it and they can buy it from us.

Committed 

Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens said: “The UK Government is completely committed to the UK steel industry and is backing Tata Steel in Port Talbot with £500m to secure its future in the town along with £80m to support workers and the wider community through the transition to greener steelmaking.

“Strengthening UK-US trade ties is a priority for this government and we are working constructively with the US on tariffs and other economic issues.

“But we have made clear that British-made steel is an essential part of our economy, which is why our Plan for Steel will guide £2.5 billion of investment to rebuild the UK steel industry, maintain jobs, and drive growth as part of our Plan for Change.

“This week Tata Steel secured planning permission for its electric arc furnace in Port Talbot providing more certainty for the future of steelmaking in South Wales.

“We promised we would deliver for our steel communities, and through our deal with Tata Steel and our upcoming Steel Strategy we are doing just that.”