Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Aly Esmail

• EU plans to cut tariff-free steel imports by 47 per cent from July 1.
• UK and EU steel producers warn of significant disruption to cross-Channel trade.
• Hopes for a joint UK-EU strategy on Chinese steel are fading.

The UK and the European Union are facing growing tensions over steel trade, with both sides preparing to tighten import restrictions from July 1 in a move designed to shield domestic producers from Chinese competition.

Business secretary Peter Kyle is expected to raise concerns with European trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels as the UK steel industry warns that planned changes to the EU's safeguard system could significantly restrict British exports. The dispute comes at a sensitive moment for UK-EU trade relations, with manufacturers on both sides warning that new quotas risk damaging one of Europe's most interconnected industrial sectors.