The UK’s Minister of State for Trade, Chris Bryant, has suggested his government is closing in on a deal on steel with the EU that would see both sides avoid punitive trade restrictions introduced to shield their domestic industries from over-capacities.
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It comes as the Labour-led UK government pushes on with its economic “reset” with the European bloc, despite an impending leadership challenge that has left Prime Minister Keir Starmer grappling with his biggest political crisis since his landslide victory in 2024.
Speaking to Euronews’ Europe Today from Strasbourg on Tuesday, Bryant said the UK was in “very productive conversations” with EU counterparts and expressed confidence that negotiators could reach a “good arrangement”.
“We need to make sure that we don’t provide a problem for each other because, frankly, the problem of over-capacity in steel, which undermines sovereign steel capacity on the continent of Europe, is not provided by us, it’s provided by China and some other countries in the world,” Bryant explained.
The European Union is set to halve its quotas and double its tariffs on foreign steel on July 1st, in a response to a glut of cheap Chinese imports and amid stalled talks with the Trump administrations on reducing US tariffs on EU steel.
The UK is also set to slash its tariff-free quota of steel imports by 60% and levy a 50% tariff on imports above that level, also on July 1st.
Bryant suggested that targeting each other with measures mainly intended to tackle Chinese overproduction would be counter-productive as the EU and UK pursue tighter economic ties. “We shouldn’t give ourselves a new problem,” he said.
He also said that the UK should be included in the bloc’s plans to prioritise “Made in Europe” components as part of public procurement, saying strategic industries such as Electric Vehicles (EVs) are deeply integrated across the continent.
“I just think if we have to be realistic about the fact that a French car is likely to have a British braking system in it, so you can start the French car but you can’t stop the French car,” he explained.
France, whose President Emmanuel Macron is considered the driving force behind the scheme, has been sceptical of allowing the UK to benefit fully from the plans. Yet Bryant hailed “very good conversations” with his French counterparts. “If we’re going to make sure that the whole of the continent of Europe prospers, I think Made in Europe will probably have to include the UK as part of that agenda,” he said.
Almost two years since the Keir Starmer-led government swept to a landslide electoral victory after campaigning on the promise to draw a line under years of acrimony with the EU and ‘reset’ the economic trading relationship, the UK and EU are hoping to strike a series of sectorial deals in time for a summit slated for July.
Bryant said it is now “common sense” for the EU and the UK to align on a “common sense approach” to outstanding issues such as agrifood exports, carbon emissions trading and youth mobility.
“In a few years time it’s perfectly possible that you will see British troops standing next to Danish troops and Spanish troops and German troops in Ukraine. It will be crazy if by that time we haven’t managed to achieve a trading arrangement which allows them to use the same car and buy the same products online,” he explained.
‘A remainer until my dying day’
The push for the reset comes as the Labour-led government has been plunged into a political crisis at home. In a crucial set of elections on May 7, the party scored a historic low in Scotland, lost its decades-long hold on power in Wales, and suffered a bruising defeat at the hands of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in English local votes.
Starmer’s former health secretary, Wes Streeting, has since stepped down and is expected to launch a leadership bid. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is also contesting a by-election in the coming weeks and then expected to join the race.
Streeting has thrust Brexit to the heart of the leadership showdown in comments over the weekend where he floated the UK re-joining the European Union in the future. This while the Starmer-led government has been going to great lengths to avoid rowing back on Brexit and alienating Red Wall voters who have been defecting to Reform UK.
Asked whether Starmer should embrace a bolder line on the post-Brexit relationship with the bloc, Bryant said: “I’ve been a remainer from the beginning of time and I remain a remainer and I will remain a remainer until my dying day, so of course I would love to see the UK as a member of the European Union.”
“But a vote was taken in 2016, and we had a general election in 2024 in which we made commitments to the British public, which I don’t think we’re about to surrender,” he added.
