Negative impact of Trump tariffs on UK economy
Over the past few years, Donald Trump has spoken at length about how he considers the structure of the global economy to be unfair to the United States.
As he settles in for his second stint as US president he is taking action, in what he calls Liberation Day.
In retaliation for tariffs imposed by other countries across the world on the import of American goods into their countries, Trump announced his own set of tariffs on goods going the other way into the US economy, with the US leader stating that these tariff rates are still only half of those US exporters face when trying to do business across the world.
One of those countries now impacted is the United Kingdom.
Trump announced that UK exporters will now have to pay a 10% tariff on any products they wish to send into the United States, a move which has been designed to increase the cost of imported goods to the benefit of domestic American companies.
While American manufacturers might rejoice, in the UK financial markets reacted to the measures by tumbling and fears abound of the potential loss of thousands of jobs in key industries which rely on the American market for their survival.
As an initial response to the announcement by Trump, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer released a list of hundreds of American products which could be hit with tariffs in retaliation.
Just as with defense and security, so too for the economy and trade we are living in a changing world entering a new era.
We must rise to this challenge, and that is why I've instructed my team to move further and faster on the changes I believe will make our economy stronger and more resilient.
Sir Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister
While the 10% rate puts the UK among the nations hit with the lowest tariffs of those announced, it still calls into question the nature of the so called 'special relation' between the UK and US.
With Trump willing to cause billions of pounds of damage to not just the economy of a close ally, but also that of America, damage that has led economists to liken it to the UK's own decision to leave the EU.
I think the trouble with having ... someone who's pretty foolish in power, they tend to surround themselves with other foolish people, and they don't get the proper advice.
We had the same thing in Britain with Brexit and Boris Johnson surrounding himself with a lot of idiots, to be honest, and incompetence.
And that's what will happen, and that's not good for society.
Keith Pilbeam, Economics Professor
To further compound the pain for the UK, Trump announced a 25% flat tariff on the import of all cars into the US, regardless of their country of origin, meaning thousands more British jobs are now at risk.
Despite the role that the UK Government plays in advancing imperialism with the United States around the world, when push comes to shove, the system they work to preserve is a dog eat dog one that spares no one, whether Friend or foe.
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