Starmer has days to avoid Trump’s 50% steel tariffs

Levy to double on Wednesday but UK trade deal yet to start

- KATE DEVLIN

The UK faces a race against time to prevent Donald Trump's swingeing new 50 per cent tariffs on steel hitting an already beleaguered critical industry.

The US president sent shockwaves through the global economy when he announced on Friday that he would raise the tariffs from 25 per cent to “further secure” the industry.

“We’re going to bring it from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States. Nobody is going to get around that,” Trump told steel workers on a visit to a Pennsylvania plant.

He later confirmed on his Truth Social platform that the change would be “effective Wednesday, June 4”.

A UK-US trade deal unveiled with much fanfare earlier this month should have exempted Britain from steel tariffs – but it has yet to be implemented.

Ministers now face a scramble to ensure the agreement with the US is in place before Wednesday. The government is urgently seeking clarification from the US on what the latest announcement means for the UK,