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Red Rhino issues warning against steel tariffs

Lincolnshire manufacturer warns new steel tariffs will devastate British industry

Laura Winfield is Director at Red Rhino Crushers, a Grantham-based manufacturer of crushing and screening equipment that has been proudly designing and building machines in Britain for nearly 60 years. Here, she shares her serious concerns about the government's proposed steel trade changesand how these tariffs “risk destroying the very industry they aim to protect”.  

The UK government has announced that from 1 July 2026, it will introduce new steel trade measures that will reduce tariff-free import quotas and apply a 50% tariff on out-of-quota imports. The stated aim is to protect domestic steel production, and as a proud British manufacturer, we understand that ambition. But good intentions do not always make good policy, and we are deeply concerned that these new steel tariffs risk destroying the very industry they aim to protect. 

Steel is at the heart of everything we do. Three generations of our family have poured their lives into this business, employing local people, training apprentices and championing British engineering. We are not a faceless corporation. We are a family business with deep roots in our community, and we are genuinely frightened about what these changes could mean for manufacturers like us.

The hard truth is that our customers do not simply choose between British and imported steel. They choose between machines built here in Britain and fully finished products imported cheaply from overseas. If rising steel costs make us uncompetitive, that work does not stay in the UK. It disappears abroad, and the skilled British jobs that go with it disappear too.

We are calling on the government to urgently consider the full impact of these measures on downstream manufacturers before it is too late. Protecting British industry must mean protecting the entire supply chain, not just steelmakers, but the engineers, fabricators and manufacturers who transform that steel into world-class products. We have done that here in Grantham for nearly 60 years. We simply need the government to give us a fighting chance.