With the American commercial deal, the United Kingdom’s steel industry feels some relief that is intense
The invitation came from the supervisor to the floor of the steel store in Sheffield, England, on Thursday afternoon: the definitions were outside. “Everything has changed for us,” Richard Bot said, while he was standing near chimneys of steel panels that still radiate waves of heat from the factory.
In a commercial deal with Britain, which was announced by a lot of noise on Thursday, President Trump agreed to raise the 25 percent definitions on steel, which constituted a deadly threat to the industry struggling in Britain and to the owner of Mr. Pot, Marcelalia.
The cavernous factory is one of the last large steel makers in the city of Cannes since the eighteenth century, the center of innovation in this industry.
The plant is now old and dusty, but in some ways, it is vanguard. The electric oven, a technique that the government wants to adopt by other mills to reduce emissions, is used to melt piles of stainless stainless steel scrap in molten minerals.
Marcegaglia, part of a family owned by Italy, ships more than 100 million pounds (or about 133 million dollars) of steel from Britain to the United States annually, about a quarter of the country’s steel exports.
The American definitions, which were announced in February but in effect in March, added great costs and complications of what was already an industry of decline. British steel makers struggle with poor demand, external competition, and high -energy costs.
The difficulties were recently highlighted when the government took control of the last major steel factory in Britain, in Scunthorpe, about 90 minutes drive from Sheffield, fearing that the Chinese factory owners will close it.
Liam Bates, President of Marcelaia, said that the ships that have ended and finishing stainless steel products to the United States, where they had a mill in Retchburg, SC, “slowed the demand as customers decided whether they wanted to pay the service of 25 percent or not.”
In one of the effort to reduce the damage, Marcegaglia raced to download the battery with the steel and send it across the Atlantic Ocean to reach before the definitions entered, but it reached it too late, adding millions of dollars in costs.
On Friday, there was a feeling of comfort in the factory, which uses 440. “It is good news for the company and the country,” said Ryan Johnson, a project engineer.
The factory’s chief operational officer, Christian Bruceman, said he believed that the definitions will be issued to a large part of the materials issued by Marcelalia to the United States. He said: “At least some of our customers in the United States will pick up the phone and try to work,” he said.
Nevertheless, company officials say they still do not know the meaning of the deal for the products that are shipped from Britain to European Union countries such as Sweden for more treatment and then to the United States.
The tariff is still 25 percent on imported steel in the United States is valid for other countries. It should still be seen as the customs tariff will happen, creating a great anonymous from a British company that sends large sums of its production to both Europe and the United States.
The Trump administration’s impulsive approach to commercial policy also creates uncertainty and stabilizes confidence.
“There is no structure, so you can’t plan anything,” said the factory planning director. “This does not give us any stability at all.”
However, Mrs. Wilcho said she was more optimistic after Thursday’s announcement.
Steel UK, an industrial group, welcomed the customs tariff, saying that the United States was the second important market in Britain’s solid after the European Union, which represents about 9 percent of sales by size.
British Prime Minister Kiir Starmer has recently defended the local steel industry, but these companies are diminishing and remaining threatened with extinction. Only 35 percent of the demand for steel in Britain, is corresponding to local production, according to the United Kingdom’s steel.
Dave Brooks, Marcegaglia Manufacturing Director, recalled joining the 16 -year -old steel company in 1986 and has an opportunity to work in other facilities, including the Research and Development Center.
He said that these units were all closed in the waves of companies ’acquisition and unification in the British and European industry in recent decades.
However, steel workers seem to be a flexible society often enjoying work and seeing a little point in looking at the negative aspects.
“Just a smile and bear,” said Simon Flynn, a contractor.