A call from the supervisor came to a steel store in Sheffield, England on Thursday afternoon. The duties were eliminated. “Everything has changed for us,” Richard Bott said.
In a trade deal with the UK on many fanfares on Thursday, President Trump agreed to raise iron tariffs on 25% that poses a disastrous threat to Britain's struggling industry and Bott's employer, Marcegaglia Stainless Sheffield.
The spongy plant is one of the last remaining large steel making facilities in the city that has been a hub of industry innovation since the 18th century.
The plants are now old and dusty, but in a way they are avant-garde. It uses the technology that melts the pile of shining stainless steel waste into molten metal, an electric furnace that the government hopes to adopt to reduce emissions in other factories.
Marsegaglia, part of an Italian family-owned company, earns about a quarter of the country's steel exports of more than £100 million (or about $133 million) from the UK to the US each year.
The US tariffs announced in February but in effect in March added substantial cost and complexity to an already declining industry. British steelmakers suffer from weak demand, external competition, high energy and environmental costs.
The difficulties were recently highlighted when the government ruled the UK's last major steel factory in Scunthorpe, about 90 minutes' drive from Sheffield, and was highlighted by the Chinese owners of the factory for fear of closing it.
Liam Bates, president of Marsegaglia, saw that Marsegaglia was finished in the US, loaded stainless steel products into the US, and “a slowing demand as customers decided whether to pay a 25% obligation.”
In one effort to mitigate damage, Marsegaglia loaded steel frames and sent it to arrive across the Atlantic before tariffs took effect, but it was too late, adding a multi-million dollar cost.
On Friday, there was a sense of caution in the factory employing 440. “That's good news for the company and the country,” said project engineer Ryan Johnson.
Christian Burgmann, the factory's chief operating officer, said he thought tariffs would be lifted on many of the materials Marsegaglia exported to the US. “At least some of our customers in the US are trying to get the phone and try to make it work,” he said.
However, company officials say they still don't understand the meaning of trading products that have been processed further before being shipped to the US and then shipped to European Union countries like Sweden.
The 25% tariff on steel imported into the US is still in place in other countries. With tariffs still not seen to apply to the European Union, there is a huge unknown in the UK business that sends massive production to both Europe and the US.
The Trump administration's impulsive approach to trade policy creates uncertainty and SAPS confidence, they say.
“There doesn't seem to be a structure so we can't plan anything,” said Tracey Wilshaw, the factory's planning manager. “It doesn't give us any stability at all.”
Still, Wilshaw said she was more optimistic after the announcement Thursday.
Industry group Steel UK welcomed the easing of tariffs, with the US as the UK's second most important steel market, after the European Union, accounting for around 9% of sales.
British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer has recently risen to defend the domestic steel industry, but these companies are declining and are on the verge of extinction. According to Steel UK, only 35% of UK steel demand is met by domestic production.
Dave Brooks, manufacturing manager at Marcegaglia, joined Steel Business in 1986 as a 16-year-old trainee, recalled having the opportunity to work at other facilities, including the R&D centre.
He said these units have all been shut down in recent decades due to a wave of corporate acquisitions and integration in the UK and European industries.
Still, most steel workers enjoy their work and seem like a resilient community where they rarely see the point when looking at the downside.
“Just a smirk,” said contractor Simon Flynn.
