UK unlikely to press Xi Jinping too hard over steel 'dumping', Hammond signals

Foreign secretary says Britain cannot build wall around steel industry struggling to cope with falling prices amid global surplus

Britain cannot build a wall around its steel industry, the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has said as he indicated that David Cameron was unlikely to press the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, too harshly on the "dumping" of steel.

Amid predictions that Tata Steel is to announce almost 1,200 job losses in Scunthorpe and Scotland, the foreign secretary said that the steel industry was struggling to cope with falling prices in the face of a global surplus in supply.

Related: Tata Steel to axe 1,200 jobs in the UK