The week was dominated by US President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to find new legal justification for his ‘reciprocal’ tariff regime, which sees the UK in line for 10% tariffs on its imports.
Steel producers on both sides of the Channel, as well as UK manufacturers, warned that impending steel quota changes from Brussels and London will cause economic harm.
A new industry benchmark for UK customs intermediaries was published this week, with Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade experts who contributed to the standard sharing their thoughts.
The big picture: Trade news this week has been dominated by the latest tariff maneuvers of the Trump administration.
After the ‘reciprocal’ tariff regime was quashed by a February US Supreme Court ruling that found its legal route to implementation was unsound, and its interim solution was also challenged in the federal courts, the administration has found a new avenue to implement tariffs on a wide number of US trade partners.
The outcome of investigations into the use of forced labour in supply chains, launched under Section 301 of the Trade Act 1974, was used as pretext to apply tariffs of at least 10% to goods imported from 60 countries, including the UK.
An announcement by the Office of the United States Trade Representative stated that the duties were a result of those countries’ “failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor”.
Under Section 301 this justifies the use of tariffs as the use of forced labour “burdens or restricts U.S. commerce”.
The Department for Business and Trade told Global Trade Today that it was engaging “regularly with the [US] Administration as part of our negotiations, and have made clear the actions we're taking” on forced labour.
The European Commission described the tariffs as “unjustified” and said it would “continue engaging” with the US on the issue.
European Parliament’s trade committee chair, Bernd Lange, didn’t pull punches, arguing in a post shared on X that:
“Accusing the EU of not doing enough against forced labour is absurd.”
“The EU has adopted the world’s most stringent rules against products made with forced labour. This looks very much like trying to make the facts fit a legal justification for tariffs that has already been decided.”
Chartered Institute director general Marco Forgione said the announcement was “disappointing but not surprising”.
He added that it’s “deeply unfortunate that the UK has been included in the list of countries impacted”.
“This news will send a fresh wave of uncertainty through the UK trading community.”
You can read his full response here, while members can read our Trade Explained feature, digging deeper into the legality of the measures, timeline for implementation and how likely they are to be successfully challenged.
Good week/bad week: A better week for Ukraine support through sanctions, following row backs on Russian oil sanctions by the US and UK.
The EU could be risking further ire from Beijing by adding four Chinese firms it accuses of supporting Russia’s war machine to its next package of sanctions, Politico reports.
Brussels claims the companies have engaged in activities including delivering drone components to Moscow, assisting Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers and exporting chemicals used by the military.
The package will be discussed by a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers next week.
While less likely to become law, US legislators are showing a greater willingness to step up action against Russia, after the House of Representatives approved the Ukraine Support Act.
The Act, which would impose sanctions on Russia and provide aid to Ukraine, passed in a 226-195 vote, with 18 Republicans voting against Trump.
It would need approval from the senate and them Trump himself before coming into force.
A bad week for the steel sector, as concerns grow about falling tariff-free quotas on both sides of the channel.
From 1 July, the EU is set to cut its tariff-free imports of steel by 47%, while raising tariff rates on out-of-quota goods to 50%. The UK is set to introduce comparable measures, cutting tariff-free quotas by 60% on the same day.
Leading trade bodies from both sides have warned that the changes will hurt companies in their sector, as importers face increased costs when buying their products.
In the UK, manufacturers have also said that lower tariff rates will harm their bottom line as vital inputs from the EU become more expensive.
The issue has now received enough attention for business and trade secretary Peter Kyle and European trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič to meet in person this week. Kyle told Politico earlier this week that “nothing is settled, but it is part of the active discussions that we’re having”.
How’s stat? 60%. That’s the percentage of Chinese firms’ market share gains that can be attributed to state subsidies between 2005 and 2023, according to OECD analysis.
That figure is significantly above the global average of 22%.
Quote of the week: “Europe’s competitiveness will not be built by technology, capital or financial regulation alone. It will be built by people, the skills they develop and the opportunities we create for them to contribute fully to our economies and societies.”
Roxana Mînzatu, the European Commission’s (EC) executive vice president for skills, told Politico as figures published in the EC’s European Semester Spring Package highlight the risk of sizeable job losses across the EU.
According to EC estimates as many as 560,000 jobs could be at risk as a result elevated energy prices stemming from the US-Israeli was in Iran, the green transition and industrial changes.
Mînzatu’s words follow a report citing Europe’s absence from the global AI supply chain as another point of economic vulnerability, directly hindering trade growth.
The OECD’s bi-annual Economic Outlook, published on Wednesday (3 June), stated that, in addition to high energy prices, “limited AI-related exports are expected to lower trade growth in 2026 to less than half the rate in 2025”.
The week in customs: An important milestone for UK freight forwarders. Following the post-Brexit explosion in demand for their services, the British Standards Institution (BSI) has now released a standard for customs intermediaries.
The standard, PAS 40201, is designed to “raise quality and standards” across the sector, without “imposing disproportionate regulatory burdens” on actors.
The Chartered Institute was part of the steering group that informed the standard. Customs practice director Anna Doherty welcomed its publication, saying that it “sets out a practical and credible benchmark for consistent quality in customs declaration services”. You can read her response here.
The Chartered Institute’s professional practices director, Kevin Shakespeare, also acted as a technical author of the standard.
What else we covered: The latest manufacturing Special Interest Group looked at UK regulations to combat waste associated with packaging, as Imports Advisory Practice lead Ilona Kawka updated attendees on who will need to take compliance measures and what they’ll entail.
Our latest Europe Trade Digest examined Brussels’ recent challenges, including Chinese threats of retaliation in response to its new policies designed to bolster its domestic industry and its latest trade agreement with Mexico.
On the topic of Europe, we published our first ‘letters to the editor’ feature, containing your views on the ongoing reset of the UK-EU relationship.
True facts: Reuters dove into a less-known aspect of China’s monopoly on rare earth production – the skills development and academic infrastructure supporting it.
A report published this week details the growing technical education network supporting critical minerals, which now includes over 40 specialist rare earth laboratories, and 11 universities and technical colleges educating students in dedicated programmes.
