Where the steel industry is involved, especially in rich countries, shuttered plants, job losses and complaints about unfair competition are rarely far away.

Having seen global steel prices halve over the past year, European steel-makers are ratcheting up their choruses of complaint. Yesterday they demanded blocks on cheap steel imports, particularly from China, and lower energy input prices.

The impact of steel plant closures can be devastating for local communities. The recent closure of the Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) plant at Redcar in north-east England was a severe blow to a town with few other job opportunities. But resorting to wide-scale protectionism is only likely to displace job losses elsewhere. And while there is certainly a case for the EU to revisit the cost of power to energy- intensive industries, it is not clear that would do much to mitigate the damage the steel industry is sustaining.