British manufacturers warn Trump’s metal tariffs ‘will create severe problems’

British manufacturers have said Donald Trump’s fresh trade tariffs on metals will create “severe problems” and are a “big concern”.

Liam Bates, president of long products at Marcegaglia, a steel maker in Sheffield, said the tariffs are “very unhelpful”.

Between 15% and 20% of what Marcegaglia melts in Sheffield is sent to the US, across both semi-finished and finished steel products, he told PA news agency.

“There was a lull in demand (for UK-made steel) anyway, and therefore to take more away and create more uncertainty does create additional issues for us,” he said.

Mr Trump imposed global tariffs on steel and aluminium on Tuesday night, while raising a flat duty on steel and aluminium entering America to 25%.

The move has prompted warnings of job losses in the already beleaguered UK steel industry, which counts the US as its second largest export market behind the European Union.

He added: “There are certain product lines where it does create problems on an already burdened product.

“It is very unhelpful at a time where the whole industry is struggling, but when I look at certain parts of the business it will create severe problems.”

According to a memo on the tariffs published by the EU, which is also affected, they will apply to different types of semi-finished and finished products such as steel pipes, wire and tin foil.

They will also apply to other products including cookware, some electrical appliances and other products only partly made out of steel or aluminium.

He said he was still unsure which of his products will be hit, but that about 20% of the company’s sales of trays, trolleys and other products are to American customers.

“We have to decide whether to go ahead with production of orders that we fear may soon be cancelled,” he told PA.

“It will definitely impact sales, it will probably kill most of them in the US.”

Meanwhile, for small firms like his, it is “not a case of pivoting” to selling elsewhere, Mr Brearley said.

“We do our best to try and sell everywhere in the world as much as we can,” he said.

“It’s not like we can just decide to sell elsewhere. For us, it would just be a hit on our sales.”