The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) said new US import duties of 10% to 12.5% on British exports could become a “tipping point” for manufacturers already facing high industrial energy costs and higher National Insurance contributions.
The association warned the added costs could undermine the commercial viability of some contracts in the American market. The MTA set out its position in a public statement from CEO James Selka and a BBC Radio 4 appearance by board member Mark Ridgway OBE, CEO of Group Rhodes, following the Trump administration’s announcement of the new duties.
The tariffs were imposed citing failures to address forced labor in export supply chains. They follow a February US Supreme Court ruling that struck down an earlier comparable set of duties, adding further uncertainty for exporters already trying to price, finance, and deliver long-lead-time contracts.
For manufacturers of high-value capital equipment, where contracts run into the millions of pounds and buying cycles extend across several years, a 10% import duty shifts the buyer’s return on investment calculation, not just the seller’s margin.
Ridgway told BBC Radio 4, “On a multi-million-pound programme, a 10% duty is not a rounding error. It can change the commercial case altogether. What matters is not only the tariff itself, but how it compares with the treatment of our global competitors.”
The MTA identified three cost pressures it says left UK manufacturers without sufficient buffer before the tariffs landed: industrial energy prices it describes as among the least competitive in the developed world, the National Insurance contribution (NIC) increase introduced in 2025, and a shortage of skilled engineers and technicians. The association did not publish comparative figures against competing export economies.
Selka said, “[The] government cannot control every tariff decision made in Washington, but it can control the cost base and policy environment here in the UK. If ministers want British manufacturers to withstand global shocks, they must move quickly to reduce industrial energy costs, ease the burden of recent tax rises and deliver a serious, long-term plan for engineering and manufacturing skills.”
Domestic Costs Magnify Tariff Impact
Independent industry research points to similar investment pressures across advanced manufacturing. Last year, IDTechEx reported that tariff uncertainty slowed metal AM growth in the second half of 2024, as companies pulled back on facility investment and cut R&D budgets.
The research firm said its long-term outlook for the sector assumes trade and industrial policy stabilize, underscoring how prolonged uncertainty can weigh on investment decisions.
The ground-level picture in the UK is consistent with that. Joshua Dugdale, Head of Additive Manufacturing UK (AMUK), which sits within the MTA cluster, highlighted that the UK’s AM sector was flat, not underperforming relative to its own recent history, but not growing either.
He identified the NIC increase, which rose from 13.8% to 15% on April 6, 2025, as a specific trigger for postponed investment decisions among British companies. Firms were not rejecting new technology outright; they were waiting to see whether the cost environment stabilized before committing. That wait, compounded by tariff uncertainty, is precisely the dynamic the MTA is now warning will intensify.
A tariff is an external shock. What determines whether a manufacturer absorbs it or loses the contract is the cost base it was already running on. If that base is already uncompetitive, a 10% duty does not compress margin by 10 points. It removes what margin remained. The MTA’s demand that the government treat domestic industrial costs as a trade policy instrument follows directly from that arithmetic.
The MTA said it would continue engaging with government and industry partners as firms assess the tariffs’ effect on export pricing, investment decisions, and contract viability.
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Featured image shows Manufacturing Technologies Association Logo. Image via the MTA.
