A NORTH-EAST Euro MP was involved in top-level talks last night to protect Europe's steel industry in the wake of the US decision to impose import tariffs.

Last week, President George W Bush announced he would be imposing tariffs of up to 30 per cent on imported steel while the US steel industry undergoes a major reorganisation scheme similar to the one in this country last year.

Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus shed 6,000 jobs nationally as part of its reorganisation, including 1,100 on Teesside.

The fear with the American decision is that cheap steel from eastern Europe will be dumped in this country because it cannot afford to export to the US, burdening the market further.

Last night, Yorkshire and Humber MEP David Bowe was among a group of Euro MPs who met with EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy in Strasbourg to discuss the potential crisis.

Before the meeting, he said he thought there would be overwhelming support for a tough stance against the decision. "We are not prepared to see an industry, which, as Commissioner Lamy points out, has gone through hell and high water to become among the most competitive in the world, suffer because of illegal actions by the US.

"There can be no doubt that the US steel industry is in a very difficult situation, but crude protectionist measures are not the answer to its problem. At the root of its difficulty is the failure of the steel companies, and the US government will have to make the kind of painful structural changes which we have undergone in the UK and the rest of Europe over recent years."