Tariff fears deepen
The call comes after the European Commission confirmed plans to impose 50% tariffs on imported steel, mirroring measures introduced by US President Donald Trump earlier this year.
With nearly 80% of UK steel exports destined for the EU, trade body UK Steel has warned the move could spark the “biggest crisis” the industry has faced in decades.
Steel producers across Wales — including Tata’s Port Talbot and Trostre plants, as well as Llanwern in Newport — are bracing for the potential impact. Industry leaders say thousands of jobs could be at risk unless a trade solution is reached quickly (our earlier coverage here).
“Direct result of Brexit”
Speaking on ITV Cymru Wales’ Sharp End programme, Cefin Campbell MS — Plaid’s lead candidate for Carmarthenshire at the next Senedd election (profile here) — said the situation was a consequence of the UK leaving the EU.
“If we were still in the European Union, we would not be paying these tariffs,” he said. “Eighty per cent of our steel exports go to Europe — the biggest trading bloc in the world — and we madly decided to leave it. We’re now paying the price. That’s why I would implore Sir Keir Starmer to rejoin the single market and the customs union.”
Labour voices concern
Labour Senedd Member John Griffiths, who represents Newport East — home to the Llanwern steelworks — also expressed alarm.
He said the escalation highlighted how vulnerable the UK had become since Brexit:
“It is extremely worrying, and I know the Welsh Government is urging the UK Government to seek talks with the European Commission as soon as possible. We’re caught between the United States and the European Union in this tariff war. It just shows one of the real consequences of Brexit.”
Griffiths added that workers in his constituency were “feeling very worried and very vulnerable” about the future.
Political divisions
Not all politicians agree that Brexit is to blame. Welsh Conservative MS Samuel Kurtz dismissed the suggestion as “for the birds”, arguing the issue stemmed instead from “Europe’s trade war with Donald Trump’s America”.
Reform UK’s Jason O’Connell went further, blaming “the madness of the drive for net zero” for instability in the sector rather than Brexit.
Wales braces for impact
With the EU’s measures set to come into force early next year, the debate over how to protect Wales’s steel industry is intensifying.
For communities in Port Talbot, Llanelli and Newport, the stakes are high. As the UK Government faces calls to negotiate exemptions or quotas, unions and politicians alike warn that without urgent action, the tariffs could deliver another heavy blow to one of Wales’s most important foundation industries.
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