Boris Johnson has suggested that his ethics adviser resigned consecutively for the protection of the UK steel industry, after being asked for a view on possible breaches of the UK’s obligations to the World Trade Organization.
In his letter responding to Christoper Geidt’s resignation, the prime minister said he wanted advice on using tariffs to “protect a crucial industry” that “could be in conflict with our WTO obligations”.
Johnson said he was seeking Lord Geidt’s advice on whether a government decision relating to the UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) would be appropriate given the ministerial code, which requires those subjects to act within the law. . Johnson seemed to suggest in his letter that repealing the TRA could conflict with the UK’s obligations to the WTO, essentially a form of international law.
Created under post-Brexit reforms to advise on trade policy, the TRA told the government last June that nine of the 19 tariffs the government had imposed on steel imports could be eliminated because there was no evidence that British producers would be harmed by cheap foreign imports. .
In a recommendation to Liz Truss, who was secretary of international trade at the time, she said tariffs on steel plates used by shipbuilders and tin cans as well as barbed wire and barbed wire could be ruled out. steel to reinforce concrete.
He said border taxes, first imposed by the EU while Britain was still a member in 2018, amid fears over cheap Chinese imports, could be extended to other products, including metal-coated sheets, railway equipment and large welded tubes used for energy. pipes.
With political considerations after winning seats in the “red wall” of Labor, and amid intense pressure from the steel industry, Truss launched emergency legislation to overturn the TRA. Expanded over the last year after this change, taxes of 25% above a set quota are due to expire on June 30, prompting a new push from the industry to re-expand them. Workers have also asked for an extension.
The UK steel industry employs 33,700 people directly in the UK and supports 42,000 more in supply chains, despite the steady decline in the number of factories spread across industrial towns and cities in recent years. Among the owners are the Indian conglomerate Tata, the Spanish company Celsa and Liberty Steel, the assaulted company founded by Sanjeev Gupta.
Conservatives have accepted donations, gifts and hospitality from steel industry leaders, including Gupta and Lakshmi Mittal, president of ArcelorMittal. The prime minister’s spokesman said Thursday that Johnson had not sought Geidt’s advice on the donations.
Gareth Stace, CEO of UK Steel, said it was essential that guarantees be maintained. “Failure to do so would risk an increase in steel imports that would cause significant damage to UK producers, putting jobs, production and investment at risk.”
The trade body said it was “certain” that the extension of safeguards was in line with the UK’s WTO obligations. “Crucially, the EU has just reconfirmed its own steel guarantees until June 2024 and a WTO ruling found that the measures are in line with the rules,” Stace added.
Experts said that this month’s extension could be the reason why Geidt was asked for his opinion, but asked why an adviser on the ministerial code on the legality of the rules was being questioned. commercial.
“I’m completely baffled,” said Peter Holmes, of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. “When you introduce anti-dumping measures, you almost invariably say that what you are doing is consistent with the WTO. Therefore, it is totally strange to ask Geidt’s opinion on an anti-dumping duty. He has no experience in this area. You would ask Suella Braverman [the attorney general] if it is legal “.
David Gauke, the former Conservative secretary of justice, suggested that there could be “more to this” than UK compliance with WTO rules. Either that, or the Attorney General had concluded that the tariff plan was illegal and had proposed an alternative course of action, but that the ministers were considering continuing anyway.
“As much as Brexit refers to ‘free trade’, as the Prime Minister loses his ethics adviser due to the desire to break WTO rules to put illegal tariffs on steel,” he said. tweet.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said Johnson thought it was right to consult with Geidt and get his opinion on how this relates to the ministerial code.
The WTO said that its secretariat was not authorized to interpret the WTO agreements and would not comment on the internal policies of any of its members. Trade disputes arise in the WTO when one member considers that another member’s trade practices affect world trade in a manner contrary to the organization’s agreements.