The imposition of a
25% tariff on some types of GB steel being sold in Northern Ireland should
prompt the Government to suspend the Brexit protocol governing Irish Sea trade,
the DUP has said.
The region’s main
unionist party said the latest development linked to the contentious Northern
Ireland Protocol highlighted the need to trigger the Article 16 mechanism to
suspend the relevant elements of the trading arrangements.
The Government is already putting
legislation through Parliament that would empower ministers to unilaterally
scrap the bulk of the protocol.
It is a move that the EU claims would
breach international law.
Under the protocol, GB traders must
effectively treat Northern Ireland as part of the EU single market for goods
(Liam McBurney/PA)
Article 16 is an agreed mechanism
within the protocol that allows either the UK or EU to suspend parts of the
arrangements if they consider them to be causing economic, societal or
environmental harm.
Triggering Article 16 would prompt a
fresh round of negotiations between the EU and UK to resolve the issues.
The DUP claims the Government could
disapply the steel tariff immediately if it triggered Article 16, ahead of the
passage of the domestic legislation that would enable London to scrap the
arrangements entirely.
Quotas on steel exports are part of
the UK and EU’s Trade and Co-operation Agreement.
Under the protocol, GB traders must
effectively treat Northern Ireland as part of the EU single market for goods.
Recent changes to EU rules on certain
types of steel mean a quota that allowed for tariff-free movement of the
materials from GB to NI has been exhausted quicker than initially anticipated.
The rule changes only relate to
certain categories of steel, with the movement of other types remaining tariff
free.