Donald Trump has delivered a major blow to Rachel Reeves tonight, after he announced all British goods entering the United States will now be subject to a whopping 10% tariff.
Taking to the White House rose garden for a much-anticipated press conference, the US President accused both friends and foes of his country of “raping” them economically.
In shocking language, he told adoring supporters: “For decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far”.
He championed his announcement of tariffs as “liberation day”, claiming it would go down in history as the moment he “made America wealthy again”.
Brandishing a large chart showing what countries will be hit with what tariffs, he finally confirmed that the United Kingdom will be charged 10% on all goods entering the United States.
While this is the lowest level tariff being charged to a country, it is a major blow to the UK’s finances, and will largely wipe out all the spending cuts Rachel Reeves announced in her spring statement last week.
Britain’s 10% tariffs are half that being levied on the European Union (20%), and significantly less than those being whacked on Chinese goods (34%) and Vietnamese goods (40%).
Working his way down the chart, President Trump gleefully explained: “The tariffs will be approximately half of what they are and [they] have been charging us.”
“The tariffs will not be a full reciprocal – I could have done that – but it would have been tough for a lot of countries so I didn’t want to do that.”
He asked his Secretary of Commerce to bring the chart of stage, branding his cabinet member “brilliant”.
Explaining the tariffs, Mr Trump said: “If you look at that, China – first row – China, 67% tariffs charged to the US including currency manipulation and trade barriers.”
“We’re going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34%. In other words they charge us, we charge them less so how can anybody be upset?
“They will be because we never charge anybody anything.
“European Union – they’re very tough, very tough traders. They rip us off, it’s so pathetic.”
Finally getting to Britain Mr Trump explained: “United Kingdom [charge us] 10%, and we’ll go 10% [in return].
Bizarrely, while Mr Trump have 50% tariff discounts to longstanding enemies like the EU and China, however Britain received no such lenience.
President Trump also confirmed that all cars being sold into America will be subject to a 25% tariff, another major blow for Britain which sells £7.6 billion-worth of motors to the US each year.
The 25% tariff could come as a major jobs blow for big British employers like Jaguar Landrover, which sold over 100,000 cars to the US last year and could mean layoffs.
Last week the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned that major tariffs on British goods by America would all-but wipeout Rachel Reeves ‘fiscal headroom’ – the buffer between everything the government raises in taxes and what it spends.
Earlier today, Keir Starmer’s spokesman insisted: “When it comes to tariffs the Prime Minister has been clear he will always act in the national interest and we’ve been actively preparing for all eventualities ahead of the expected announcements from President Trump this week, which we would expect the UK to be impacted by alongside other countries.”
“Our trade teams are continuing to have constructive discussions to agree a UK-US economic prosperity deal.
“But we will only do a deal which reflects this Government’s mandate to deliver economic stability for the British people, and we will only act in the national interest.”
Asked whether the Government had given up hope of an economic deal between the UK and the US being signed before Wednesday, the spokesman said he is “not going to put a time frame on those discussions” but that they are “likely to continue beyond Wednesday”.
