Western governments are accelerating moves to build a joint defence against a glut of cheap steel from China and other Asian countries, threatening a fresh trade confrontation with Beijing, according to officials and industry experts.

Delegates who attended a meeting of the OECD’s steel committee in Paris this month said that officials from Western governments had agreed to work on “co-ordinated actions” to prevent their domestic industries being wiped out by massive overcapacity in global steel markets.

It remains rare for members of multilateral organisations to co-ordinate economic measures against industries from other countries. But there was “a heightened sense of urgency” on steel, said Catherine Cobden, the president of the Canadian Steel Producers Association.