EU halves duty-free steel quota but UK and other partners given better rate

The new rules quash hopes that the EU and the UK could forge a strategic ‘steel club’ alliance under which they would give each other tariff-free trade and work together against China. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

The EU has halved the amount of duty-free steel it will accept from abroad, but has agreed higher import volumes for more than a dozen trading partners, including Britain.

However, some steel producers have been hit harder than others with Tata Steel UK, Britain’s biggest producer, revealing its duty-free exports have been slashed by 60%.