UK steel safeguards

The UK steel safeguard is a quota on imports of certain steel products, above which a 25% tariff is levied, making imports more expensive. These measures are intended to protect the UK market from cheap steel imports diverted from other countries due to global trade distortions such as tariffs and subsidies.

Given the persistent overcapacity in the global steel market and increasing volatility in international trade, the UK government has kept the steel safeguard under regular review. The Trade Remedies Authority plays a central role in reviewing and recommending changes to the safeguard. However, its operating framework is itself under review, ahead of the current safeguard's expiry in June 2026.

Transition from EU to UK safeguards

While the UK was an EU member state, and during the transition period following Brexit, steel imports to the UK were covered by EU steel safeguard measures. These were imposed in 2018 in response to the United States increasing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Now that the UK is no longer an EU member state, it operates its own independent trade policy and trade remedies system.

Trade Remedies Authority’s first recommendation

At the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK Government temporarily maintained a steel safeguard covering 19 of the 26 steel product categories put in place by the EU. This measure was set to expire on 30 June 2021. It was then for the newly-established independent Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) to recommend whether the safeguard measure should be extended.

The TRA recommended extending the measure on 10 categories and revoking it on the remaining nine. This proposal was not supported by major domestic steel manufacturers.

While accepting the TRA recommendation, the government made new regulations to temporarily extend the safeguard on five of the remaining nine product categories for one year. This required emergency legislation to enable the government to partially overrule the TRA recommendation.

TRA reconsideration and government extension of the steel safeguard

Following industry submissions, the TRA launched a reconsideration of its original recommendation in September 2021. In March 2022, the Secretary of State for International Trade used newly established powers to call in the TRA’s reconsideration, citing the strategic importance of the steel sector.

In June 2022, the TRA recommended extending the safeguard on all 15 categories until 30 June 2024. The government accepted this and acknowledged that the decision to overrule the TRA recommendation on the five product categories departed from its obligations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, but was necessary in the national interest.

Reactions to the extension

The then opposition Labour Party welcomed and supported the government’s decision to extend the safeguard, but called for a review of the TRA operating framework. It argued the framework was too heavily weighted towards the interests of importers compared to domestic manufacturers and could contribute to a potential legal challenge at the WTO.

The Labour Party and other MPs across the House raised concerns about structural issues in the steel sector, including energy costs and decarbonisation.

The UK steel industry had campaigned for the safeguard’s extension and welcomed the decision, describing it as evidence that the government was “backing Britain’s steel industry”. Some importers and downstream users of steel argued that certain product categories should be exempt from safeguard quotas because of insufficient domestic production to meet demand.

June 2024 extension

Ahead of the prospective expiry of the safeguard on 30 June 2024, following a recommendation from the TRA, the government extended it for all 15 product categories by two years, until 30 June 2026.

To support Ukraine in its war against Russia, the UK extended a safeguard suspension for steel imports from Ukraine until 30 June 2026. A zero tariff will apply to imports of steel manufactured in Ukraine until that date.

According to the WTO rules, safeguards are temporary mechanisms designed to give domestic industries time to adapt to changed market conditions. The UK steel safeguard must expire after 30 June 2026 and cannot be extended beyond that date.

Quota adjustment in 2025

Prompted by the US reintroduction of tariffs on steel imports and the EU tightening its steel protections, the UK Government tightened steel import quotas. In June 2025, the government announced amended quota rules to limit import surges, including capping access to unused import quotas. These changes were introduced following TRA recommendations and industry submissions, and form part of wider preparations ahead of the expiry of the current safeguard in 2026.

In July 2025, the Department for Business and Trade launched a call for evidence to inform the development of a future steel trade measures framework beyond 2026. The review seeks to ensure that any future approach supports the UK steel industry in response to global market overcapacity and is consistent with the principles of open and fair trade.

Reform of the trade remedies framework

Following a review initiated in 2021, the government amended the trade remedies framework in 2023. The aim was to ensure ministers can depart from TRA recommendations with sufficient evidence and if justified in the public interest. The TRA retains its independent expert and investigative role.

In June 2025, the government announced new plans to reform the trade remedies system as part of its trade strategy. It aims to make the system more accessible to businesses and more responsive to geopolitical challenges, including unfair trading practices such as subsidies and dumping. Proposed changes include making the TRA’s framework more agile and strengthening ministerial oversight to enable swifter intervention to protect businesses.