During questions to the Secretary of State for Wales, I explained the cost of steel tariffs for the Welsh steel industry and also to America itself, and asked him what the government has done to stop the Trump steel tariffs hurting the British steel industry.
Stephen Kinnock: Is the Secretary of State aware that when President Bush introduced steel tariffs in 2002 it led to 200,000 job losses in the US? What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that American politicians, employers and trade unions are pressing President Trump to drop these utterly self-defeating tariffs?
Alun Cairns: We have said that we disagree with the statements the President has made. I was in the US just two weeks ago, and I spoke to our ambassador and the UK’s trade commissioner about this issue. I subsequently met the US ambassador here in the UK and I spoke again, just last Friday, to the UK trade commissioner in the US. This is a cross-Government effort. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade is travelling to the US as we speak to pursue and raise these issues. There has been a whole cross-Government approach to this issue and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has raised it directly with the President.