TIFF tariffs are needed to protect industry from cheap Chinese imports but this can only be done from within the EU, at present
Today hopefully sees the start of a new era for the UK steel industry with the Tata signs about to be pulled down from its Scunthorpe plant and replaced by new ones proclaiming a name from the past – British Steel.
The deal safeguards thousands of jobs for British workers and new owners Greyball Capital articulate a future for the British steel industry that Tata could not.
Even trade union officials from Unite are advising members to accept a one-year pay cut of 3 per cent and changes to the pension scheme.
After two years of uncertainty and rumours, it will be hard for staff to reject the pay cut on the basis that a pay packet, with a small reduction, is quite literally a small price to pay to safeguard families and pay mortgages and bills. The salaries paid to the steel workers also support approximately 30,000 ancillary jobs.
But while not wishing to dampen the enthusiasm for the new era, this buy-out does raise some interesting questions about how exactly Britain safeguards its new steel industry.
The US has imposed highly punitive tariffs on steel imported from China as part of a package of measures to protect American workers and steel producers from cheap foreign steel. Heavily subsidised Chinese steel is being dumped in Europe because other countries have introduced stiff tariffs and the country is over-producing for its own needs in a slowing economy.
But unlike the US, Britain cannot legislate for tough tariffs on its own – tariffs are a matter for the European Union.
Source: Scotsman.com