UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing criticism for a willingness to break international law in a bid to protect the British steel industry. He has signalled that controls on steel imports that were due to expire in late June could be retained. Speaking at the G7 summit in Germany in late June, he said that keeping the import controls on foreign steel would protect British producers, who are already under pressure from rising energy prices. "We need British steel to be provided with much cheaper energy," Johnson said. "But until we can fix that, I think it is reasonable for UK steel to have the same protections that absolutely every other European steel economy does." The Prime Minister is expected to announce that existing tariffs on Chinese steel will be maintained, even if this breaches trade obligations. Lord Geidt, Johnson's ethics adviser, resigned in mid-June, allegedly in part over Johnson's openness to breaking international law in this instance, which he viewed as a deliberate and purposeful breach of the ministerial code.
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