Description: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called an emergency sit down with British lawmakers on Saturday 12 Apr to pass a bill which would see the UK government taking over the day-to-day operations of Chinese – owned British Steel. Jingye Group, the Chinese company that managed British Steel, has repeatedly warned of high demands from the UK government over environmental concerns and the effects of Trump’s tariffs to contribute towards the need for British Steel to be closed down. Johnatan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business and Trade in the UK has accused Jingye Group of sabotaging the UK steel industry on the behest of the Chinese Communist Party. The closure of the two blast furnaces could still happen as the overtake by the UK Government of British Steel wasn’t followed by concrete reparation methods or operational continuity.
Impact: British Steel is one of UK’s largest industrial assets as it’s closure would put the country in a heavily dependent position by foreign suppliers for crucial materials such as steel. The approval of the emergency bill signaled that the threat from closure was not exaggerated but rather a genuine possibility. Chinese interference in the company indicates a possibility of industrial sabotage, as China is the world’s largest exporter of raw materials and is currently engaged in a heavily vested trade war with the US. The intricacies of the British Steel situation emphasize the obscure economic battle where transactions of larger companies and assets are weaponized in the name of national interest. UK would have to outline precise plans to keep the industrial giant running in order to avoid becoming largely dependent on importing raw materials in stranded geoeconomic state of affairs on a global scale. China would continue to pressure the forwarding of their national interests in countries where they hold key companies considered to be of national importance in order to counter the tariff pressure and diversify their investment portfolio.