The UK government will halve the amount of tariff-free steel imports allowed in an attempt to counter a global oversupply of cheap Chinese metal and bolster its beleaguered local industry.

New “safeguards” will be introduced on 1 July and will coincide with similar new limits being introduced by the EU for the same purposes. The UK said it and the EU had agreed an approach that reflected each other’s “highly interconnected supply chains” after months of negotiations over retaining tariff-free access between the markets.

At the same time tariffs on steel imports above the duty-free quotas will be doubled to 50% of the product’s value.

The quotas replace existing pre-Brexit rules that set import levels across the EU. The UK had copied the rules after leaving the bloc, but they expire at the end of the month.

Under the new rules, the existing quota of tariff-free steel allowed into the UK will be reduced by 51%, less than the 60% reduction proposed in March. That means only 3.2m tonnes can be imported duty-free into Britain in future.

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