Donald Trump’s proposal to slap a 25 per cent tariff on steel exports to the US could have a “devastating” impact on Port Talbot, a former mayor has warned.

John Warman, an ex-steelworker and councillor on Neath Town Council, fears the US President’s proposal could cost more jobs just months after around 2,000 workers were axed when the final blast furnace at the Welsh town’s plant shut.

Its closure meant the Tata Steel plant was no longer making its own virgin steel from scratch, with a new greener electric arc furnace which melts scrap metal to be built at the site in a £500m taxpayer-backed deal.

Until then, slabs will now be imported from India and the Netherlands to be rolled and treated at Port Talbot, which had been home to the UK’s biggest steel works.

But concerns have been raised that Trump’s trade battle could jeopardise that investment if the President carries through with his threat.

Warman, ex-mayor of Neath Port Talbot, told The i Paper: “I’m deeply concerned about it. I worked in Port Talbot for over 30 years in the steel plant.

“Port Talbot has always been the backbone of the community of West Glamorgan. It’s not just the people that work in the steel works. It’s all the satellite firms or contracts that work for them as well.

“It’s the contractors as well that would suffer. It would have a devastating effect.”

He added he would be prepared to protest at the US embassy in London over Trump’s tariffs if they hit the steel industry.

Alun Llewelyn, deputy leader of Neath Port Talbot Council, urged the Government to obtain clarification “as soon as possible” on if any tariffs would affect steel exports to the US “from our steel plants”.

“Steel is still a very important part of the economy of the Port Talbot area and Wales and we need to maintain markets for our high-quality products,” he said.

“We need a period of stability as work is due to begin in the near future on the new electric arc furnace following the closure of Port Talbot’s blast furnaces.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster spokesperson David Chadwick warned of the potential impact of tariffs on an already fragile industry.

He urged the Government to “protect what is left of the Welsh steel industry”, which he said had been “left to the wolves” by previous Conservative governments.

The Government downplayed any impact to the UK amid warnings from Britain’s steel industry that Trump’s tariffs would be a “devastating blow” to steel trade with the US, Britain’s second largest export market.

Last year’s blast furnace closure marked the end of traditional steel-making in South Wales with the plant Port Talbot’s largest private employer.

Steven Partridge, 60, who worked in Port Talbot’s steel works for 40 years until 2021, said the effects of last year’s job cuts were now being felt across the town.

Local business had started to close, he said, and he fears the impact will worsen over the next few months.

“It’s still raw. The local cafes, shops are closing. Big name brands have gone. So really, it’s now starting to take effect,” he said.

If Trump’s proposed tariffs were to impact production it would certainly cause further harm to the local economy, he believes.

“If it affects the production of strip coil, which is what Port Talbot does, then you have another effect.

“I don’t know how much we send to America, but if the price goes up, will Tata then say [because of] factors uncontrolled by them, ‘We’re not going to go ahead with the electric arc furnace?’ That’s my concern.”

Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary for the trade union Community, described the comments from the White House as “extremely concerning”.

“At a time of uncertainty for the sector, a punitive new tariff on UK steel exports would be hugely damaging and threaten jobs,” he said.