British Steel crisis derails China’s tariff-bypass strategy

Support us Steel being cast at British Steel in Scunthorpe Photo: Britishsteel.co.uk A Chinese steelmaker’s attempt to use British Steel as a foothold in Western markets has turned into a political dispute, after the UK government introduced a bill that could nationalize the eastern England-based company. Jingye Group, a privately owned steelmaker based in Hebei province, acquired British Steel for £70 million (US$91 million) in 2020, partly in the hope that owning production capacity inside Britain would help it bypass US tariffs on Chinese steel. In June 2018, the Trump administration imposed an initial 25% tariff on steel imports from China, citing national security concerns under the Trade Expansion Act. The Chinese company said it had invested £1.2 billion in British Steel, but it still failed to turn around annual losses estimated at £250 million, due largely to high electricity costs in the UK and an influx of cheap Chinese steel. The most devastating development came in March 2025, when the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports worldwide, including those from the UK.

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