Here we go again - Port Talbot to axe 1,000 steel jobs

[ianch99]

US doing the right thing:

US slaps China steel imports with five-fold tax increase

[Ignitionnet]

In 2014 we imported 687,000 tonnes of steel from China and 4.7 million tonnes from the rest of the EU.

I'll leave that with you.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

In 2014 we imported 687,000 tonnes of steel from China and 4.7 million tonnes from the rest of the EU.

I'll leave that with you.

My point is the US response to Chinese dumping of steel. Something the EU, led by the UK, should be advocating ..

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by ianch99

My point is the US response to Chinese dumping of steel. Something the EU, led by the UK, should be advocating ..

My point is made in the context of this thread's title and topic.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

My point is made in the context of this thread's title and topic.

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.

[Ignitionnet]

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.

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.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

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.

I was reading a number articles that seem to contradict your position e.g.

EU states point finger over Tata Steel and anti-dumping tariffs

Britain blocked attempts to strengthen EU trade defences against imports of cheap Chinese steel that have devastated Tata Steel’s operations in the UK, according to senior European officials.

French and Italian officials said Britain had led opposition to an overhaul of anti-dumping rules that could have helped raise retaliatory tariffs in the EU to the tough level seen in the US.

The head of the European Steel Association, which represents every steelmaker on the continent, also said Britain had thwarted attempts to shut out cheap steel from China.

“The UK is the ringleader in a blocking minority of member states that is preventing a European Commission proposal on the modernisation of Europe’s trade defence instruments,” Axel Eggert told the Financial Times

Let's agree to differ on this ...

[Ignitionnet]

I didn't actually give a position on that, I merely pointed out that we imported far more from the EU than we did from China in 2014.

My unsubtle implication was that to protect Port Talbot would've required us to have 'trade defence instruments' against the EU.

Unlike the EU I'm bothered by the UK's steel industry. The EU is by definition a single market and couldn't care less where steel is produced as long as it's within the EU. As far as EU-wide institutions go zero poops given regarding UK steel. They would be perfectly content it we didn't have any steel production as long as we import from the EU.

I'd recommend a read of the below from Business Insider UK and the Grauniad. Cutting off Chinese steel overnight still leaves cheaper European steel available for our manufacturers to buy. Guess what they are going to do?

http://uk.businessinsider.com/uk-ste...-prices-2016-3
https://www.theguardian.com/business...steel-industry

A bit of weakness on the part of the pound to make European steel more expensive might be good.



It also looks as though our issues are far more home-grown given the big drop in our production relative to Germany, Sweden, et al. Noteworthy also is that we buy more steel from Germany or Spain alone than the entire continent of Asia. Fine from the EU perspective, from the UK one not so much.



On another note I do love that term 'trade defence instruments'.

On a UK, not EU, level, I'd say rather than making Chinese steel more expensive we would be far better off making our own steel more competitive. Port Talbot doesn't just compete with dumped Chinese steel but with German, Spanish, Swedish, etc, steel.