Picture This: UK revises import safeguard measures as part of steel supply chain strategy

What we know

The UK government has detailed a wide-ranging Steel Strategy building on consultations in 2025, with a view to increasing the proportion of domestic demand for steel met from UK manufacturing to 50% from 30% in 2024.

On top of a number of investment measures, the government has also committed to trade measures covering all steel products made in the UK from all markets including free trade agreement partners.

The measures, which are yet to be fully detailed, will come into force from July 1, 2026, when existing safeguarding measures come to an end. They will include tariff-free quotas being cut by 60% and an out-of-quota tariff rate of 50%. The UK will also start proceedings to increase its World Trade Organization (WTO) Most Favored Nation tariff to as much as 50%.

The UK joins the US, the EU, India and others in updating its steel tariffs and implementing new safeguard measures and wider trade controls. 

Why it matters

UK imports of steel products that are likely to be targeted by tariffs climbed by 19% in volume terms in 2025 versus 2021, while the value in sterling terms only rose by 6.5%, showing the penetration of imports and the impact of aggressive pricing.

Much of the growth in sterling terms came from the EU, with shipments growing by 11.7%, likely indicating the knock-on effect from increased imports to the EU from the rest of the world. Shipments from mainland China and South Korea also surged by 79.3% and 54.1%, respectively, over the same period.

More recently though, there has been a downturn in shipments, with a 15.6% slide in total UK imports of steel in both volume and sterling terms in the three months to Jan. 31, 2026, as manufacturing demand has weakened.

The challenge for global steel markets from UK protectionism is small, with the UK representing just 1.4% of global exports of the relevant steel products in 2025.