Thousands more jobs could be at risk in the UK steel industry because of the Bush administration's threatened imposition of tariffs on US steel imports, Britain's largest producer, Corus, warned yesterday.
The threat to jobs in Britain and Holland comes on top of the controversial cuts in Wales and Teesside that saw more than 6,000 jobs axed with the closure of plants such as Llanwern and Ebbw Vale earlier this year.
Anglo-Dutch group Corus, which exports around 1.3m tonnes of steel to the US each year, has joined other producers in the International Iron and Steel Institute in calling for multilateral talks to deal with the financial crisis in the worldwide industry.
With global prices falling, many companies are struggling to survive, including in America where 18 steel producers have filed for bankruptcy in the past four years.
Corus yesterday reiterated its support for proposed measures to weed out inefficient, excessive plants and remove state subsidies to producers.
But it is vehemently opposed to President Bush's suggestion of supporting the US industry through a system of quotas or tariffs on steel imports to America, writing to trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt and 100 MPs in steel-producing areas about the likely impact of such a move.
The company, which produces 20m tonnes of steel annually, said quotas could hit its plants at Rotherham, Stocksbridge, near Sheffield, Teesside, and Scunthorpe and at Ijmuiden in the Netherlands. The plants employ more than 18,000 people.
A Corus spokesman confirmed that US quotas or tariffs would have a significant impact on the plants' operations. "Potentially thousands of jobs could be at risk,"he acknowledged. "The proposals threaten exports to the US and if we couldn't find an alternative market for the steel it would affect the plants that export. We don't think this is the right way to go about things."
Union leaders are to seek urgent talks this week with the American Embassy in London because of concern over steel industry employment in the UK. Sir Ken Jackson, AEEU leader, said the imposition of tariffs would be "extremely damaging" to the UK steel industry and would come as another blow to the Corus workforce.
"President Bush must resist retreating into protectionism because that sort of activity can only spark trade wars which damage workers in every country," he said.
