Union leaders have warned the government that Britain’s steel industry faces “catastrophe” unless ministers block Chinese attempts to achieve “market economy status” at the WTO later this year.
The warning came as Britain’s biggest steelmaker said it was cutting more than 1,000 jobs, prompting recriminations that the UK was failing to stand up for the steel industry in the face of a deluge of cheap Chinese imports.
Tata Steel said 750 positions would go at its Port Talbot plant, the UK’s biggest steelworks by output and workforce, along with 100 jobs at mills in Trostre, Corby and Hartlepool and 200 support roles.
The decision underlines the evisceration of Britain’s steel industry, which during the past year has either shed or outlined plans to cut more than 6,000 jobs from a workforce that was 30,000-strong at the start of 2015.
It also feeds into a roiling debate over China’s place in the global economy as Beijing pushes for market economy status at the World Trade Organisation.
In a letter to the business minister, Anna Soubry, the steelworkers’ trade union Community said that senior industry figures had warned that if China achieved this goal it would be “a catastrophe for our industry and most likely the final nail in the coffin for UK steelmaking”.
Facing a barrage of protest, the European Commission has pushed back a proposal on whether to grant the coveted status until this summer. EU states are sharply divided on the issue, with Britain in favour, and Italy strongly opposed. Critics argue that it will reduce Europe’s ability to retaliate against unfair trade practices with countervailing tariffs.
Tata said the cost-saving measures followed falls in European steel prices “caused by a flood of cheap imports, particularly from China”.
Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel’s Europe, said the European Commission needed to do more to counter the wave of “unfairly traded imports . . . Not doing so threatens the future of the entire European steel industry.”
Source: Financial Times