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  3. The difficulties facing British Steel have quickly become part of the Brexit debate. Business is naturally cautious about enteri

The difficulties facing British Steel have quickly become part of the Brexit debate. Business is naturally cautious about enteri

admin2019-11-19  40
问题    The difficulties facing British Steel have quickly become part of the Brexit debate. Business is naturally cautious about entering into political debates, but it should not remain silent when it features so prominently in the public discourse. Industry has a responsibility to ensure its views are accurately represented.
   There can be no doubt that the ongoing Brexit uncertainty has contributed significantly to British Steel’ s problems. Unable to decipher what the UK/EU trading relationship will be in just five months’ time, planning has become fiendishly complicated for both UK exporters and their EU customers. The timing is particularly bad, with the EU having recently imposed "safeguard" measures to prevent a surge in steel imports resulting from protectionist action elsewhere. Post-Brexit, UK steel exports to Europe will be restricted by these measures, with a disorderly no-deal Brexit affecting them particularly badly.
   Then there is the longer-term question of whether a well-managed Brexit could provide any notable benefits to steel producers. There have been claims in recent days about the ability of the UK government to use state aid more extensively to support the steel industry once it is outside the EU. Most importantly, this disregards the fact that the UK steel sector has no interest in operating under the support of state subsidies, and ignores a number of other important technical points.
   First, the UK’s ability to provide state aid support will remain restricted, although less so, by its WTO membership, which bans certain subsidies outright, and allows others to be counteracted by other WTO members with the imposition of "anti-subsidy duties"—effectively closing off important export markets. Second, the EU has systematically required alignment on state aid rules in all its FTAs (free trade agreements) since 2006, and a UK-EU FTA would be no different. The US and others would insist on similar provisions in their FTAs with the UK, meaning that if the UK want to take full advantage of their ability to make new trade agreements they will continue to be restricted in their use of state aid.
   None of this is to say that the UK can’ t ultimately deliver similar trading conditions outside the EU, depending on the colour of Brexit eventually chosen, simply that a huge amount of effort will be required, and disruption caused, in order to replicate the status quo. In short, it must be honest in stating that Brexit will not improve the situation for the steel sector but it has the potential to cause a great deal of damage. The No. 1 priority to improve the outlook for steel, and the wider manufacturing sector, is to secure a withdrawal agreement as soon as possible, ending this uncertainty and avoiding the turmoil of a no-deal Brexit.
   Looking beyond Brexit, many of the measures that could help the steel industry are already within the government’s gift. We have long called on the government to tackle the UK’s sky-high industrial electricity prices, now twice the price of those in France, placing an additional ￡85m a year cost on the sector, money that should instead be spent on much needed capital investment. Moreover, UK business rates are five to ten times higher than elsewhere in the EU, perversely increasing costs for those that modernise and upgrade. Government must act on these issues and others if they want to secure a sustainable future for steel in the UK.
   These are of course challenging times, but the steel sector is an enduring one. Society will continue to require steel and the UK will continue to supply it, provided they are given the right foundations to do so competitively.
According to the passage, what is the most influential factor to the development of the UK’s steel industry?
选项 A、The fierce competition of other countries.
B、The "safeguard" measures of the EU.
C、The uncertainty of the ongoing Brexit.
D、The inadequacy of its own structure.
答案C
解析 根据题干关键词定位到第二段。第二段讲述了一系列对英国钢铁行业有影响的因素。题干询问“最重要的因素”和原文中的has contributed significantly为同义复现，故C项“英国退欧的不确定性”正确，A项“其他国家的激烈竞争”和B项“欧盟的‘保护’政策”虽然也是影响因素之一，但并非最重要的影响因素。D项“自身结构的缺陷”，文中未提及，无中生有，排除。故本题选C。
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