Trump’s tariff salvo blindsides UK manufacturers August 24, 2025 Donald Trump has blindsided UK manufacturers by slapping fresh tariffs of up to 25 per cent on more than 400 categories of British goods, from shampoo and children’s highchairs to motorcycles and diggers. Conservative shadow trade secretary Andrew Griffith accused ministers of failing to protect exporters, saying: “When it comes to protecting UK businesses from [...]
Government takes control of UK’s third-largest steelworks after collapse August 21, 2025 The UK government has taken control of the country’s third-largest steelworks as near 1,500 workers face uncertainty. Speciality Steels UK (SSUK), which owns major sites such as Liberty Steel in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was put into compulsory liquidation after insolvency courts granted a winding-up order sought by creditors. The creditors said they were owned hundreds [...]
Firms stumped up extra £29bn for ‘astronomical’ energy costs June 19, 2025 British industry has had to fork out an additional £29bn to fund rising energy costs over the past four years, a fresh analysis has shown, adding further weight to calls for government bring down energy prices for British firms when it publishes its industrial strategy. According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), firms’ [...]
Sale Sharks tycoon Simon Orange buys steel giant June 17, 2025 The co-owner of rugby union side Sale Sharks, Simon Orange, has bought the UK’s second-largest steel contractor just a few months after selling his investment business in a deal worth more than £1bn. Self-made millionaire Orange, whose brother Jason was an original member of Take That, has snapped up a majority stake in Greater Manchester-based [...]
When is a trade deal not a trade deal? June 5, 2025 Do you remember where you were on TD Day, 2025? Do you remember what you were doing when you heard the news that a “truly historic” treaty had been signed between the UK and US? Trade Deal Day, 8 May 2025, was – for this government – a very big deal indeed. Keir Starmer will [...]
Trump tariffs: UK to dodge 50 per cent steel and aluminium levies June 4, 2025 President Trump exempted UK industry from a doubling of the rate of steel and aluminium tariffs up to 50 per cent, but businesses will still face a 25 per cent levy until a new trading relationship with the US is finalised. Though industry bosses had been braced to be hit by the 50 per cent [...]
Trump says he will double tariffs on foreign steel to 50 per cent May 31, 2025 President Donald Trump said that he is doubling the tariff rate on steel to 50 per cent, a dramatic increase that could further push up prices for a metal used to make housing, cars and other goods. Trump spoke at US Steel’s Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, to discuss investments by Japan’s [...]
China could gatecrash Starmer’s diplomatic party May 15, 2025 Keir Starmer has repeatedly said that the UK doesn’t need to choose between strengthening economic and trade ties with the US and deepening them with the EU. A few weeks ago, concern was growing in Whitehall that if the UK didn’t strike a deal with America then the chance of a tariff rapprochement could be [...]
UK edges closer to US trade deal for cars and steel May 7, 2025 The UK is coming close to agreeing a trade deal with the US that would see president Donald Trump’s tariffs on motor and steel exports slashed, according to reports. The additional 25 per cent tariffs that Trump instituted on steel and car imports earlier this year are expected to be reduced in a deal later [...]
British Steel cancels mass redundancy plans April 22, 2025 Thousands of steel workers have breathed a sigh of relief after the threat of mass redundancies was withdrawn following a government decision to put British Steel into public ownership. China-based Jingye, the Scunthorpe plant’s former owner, said last month it was consulting on up to 2,700 job losses after it rejected a £500m subsidy from [...]