Quote:
Originally Posted by ianch99
Indeed it is and mine also is: similar action by the EU, led by the UK government, could have helped to preserve the UK steel industry including Port Talbot.
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Although action against the 7 times as much steel imported from the EU may have been even more useful but was impossible due to free trade agreements as part of the EU.
The steel China exported to us was generally cheap and not of especially exceptional quality. The most direct replacements for Port Talbot's higher quality output came from the EU with a couple of specific cases mentioned.
So would it have been a good thing in your mind for us to have trade barriers with the EU to ensure that Port Talbot's output had been purchased by our manufacturers first, with EU and Chinese steel priced high by tariffs?
Seems a bit discriminatory if you think that our home grown producers being undercut by China is bad while their being undercut by EU countries is fine. Port Talbot hurts either way.