Is a new special relationship threatening an old staple of British industry? Prime Minister David Cameron's government faced damaging claims Friday that its push for closer ties with China is holding back efforts to save 15,000 steel jobs. The row has spiralled since Wednesday, when India's Tata Steel said it was selling its UK assets. This threatens the Port Talbot steel works, Wales's biggest single employer located in an area already hit hard by the decline of heavy industry.
A glut of cheap Chinese imports is a major reason why world steel prices have plunged in recent years - and why Port Talbot is now reportedly losing some £1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million) a day. Cameron's government faces accusations that it has blocked higher EU tariffs on Chinese steel as anger grows that an iconic British industry dating back to the 19th century that once provided 40 percent of the world's supply is now at risk.
Charles de Lusigan, a spokesman for the European Steel Association which represents European steelmakers, said Britain had opposed a European Union plan to bolster defences against cheap Chinese imports. "They thought that if they blocked the changing and the modernisation of the trade defence instruments, that would give them favours with China," he told AFP. The body's head, Axel Eggert, told Friday's Financial Times that Britain was "the ringleader in a blocking minority of member states" over the EU plan to ignore a key regulation when setting anti-dumping tariffs. EU import tariffs on Chinese steel products are low, particularly compared to the United States.
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