Johnson's terrible Brexit deal that penalised UK manufacturing continues to unravel. As a trade expert reveals, if Johnson had wanted to, he could have sorted this issue out over a couple of beers in Brussels.
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British steelmakers forced to pay 25% tariff on N Ireland sales
EU quotas for global imports have been exhausted earlier than expected
British steel producers will have to pay a 25 per cent tariff to sell certain construction products into Northern Ireland after EU quotas for global imports were exhausted earlier than expected.
Steel producers and stockholders were informed of the new tariff on Wednesday in a notice from HM Revenue & Customs, prompting a fierce backlash from industry.
“It is beyond farcical that UK producers are now prevented by these tariffs from selling goods to customers in their own country,” said Gareth Stace, director-general of UK Steel, the industry trade association.
“To add insult to injury EU steel producers can continue to export these goods tariff free throughout the UK, but we can no longer do so in the opposite direction,” he added.
“Countries like Turkey are using up big chunks of the quota and there is none left for anyone else,” said Richard Warren, UK Steel head of policy.
Sam Lowe, a trade expert at consultancy Flint Global, wrote that the soured political relationship between London and Brussels over the Northern Ireland protocol had exacerbated the commission’s refusal to make exceptions for the UK.
“This is something that could be resolved fairly easily if the EU-UK relationship was in a better place. But it’s not,” he wrote in his Most Favoured Nation blog on trade affairs earlier this month.
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https://www.ft.com/content/fcddb854-...5-4dc905abc64e