Donald Trump’s “liberation day” on April 2 appeared to be a disaster for the US economy. He announced tariffs on imports from across the world and stock markets immediately tumbled, making millions of Americans with pension funds poorer – as well as millions of Brits.
The US president was quickly forced into a partial U-turn, reducing many of the tariffs, but even now the Dow Jones is down 6% compared to six months ago. And this came on top of a 25% global tariff on cars from across the world, announced in March. It seems Sir Keir Starmer has now succeeded in convincing Mr Trump to reduce the tariff on British-made vehicles as part of a new trade deal.
This is fantastic news for tens of thousands of British workers in firms such as Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Aston Martin. Their jobs depended, at least partly, on selling the state-of-the-art luxury vehicles they create to wealthy Americans who value the quality and prestige associated with these iconic British brands.
Even if you’re not a fan of Sir Keir, you have to give him some credit.
It’s also, however, a triumph for Mr Trump. Because the horrible truth is that he blackmailed the UK – and won.
The US president was full of praise for the UK as he confirmed the deal He said: “Because of our long-time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement.”
In fact, it seems he is genuinely a fan of the UK. He’s proud of his Aberdeenshire golf course and he loves the Royal Family.
Nonetheless, he’s a businessman and as president he puts the US first. That’s his job and we should never forget it.
Mr Trump wanted the UK to cut our own tariffs on US goods and to sell more American food products in our supermarkets.
It appears he’s got what he wanted, and he forced us to give it to him.
UK carmakers had warned the Prime Minister that he had “weeks rather than months” to prevent job cuts. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which represents firms employing 813,000 people across the UK, said the impact of US tariffs was “severe, it’s significant and it’s immediate”.
The only way to save jobs was a trade deal with the US or a Covid-style package of support for the car industry complete with a furlough scheme, the society said. That would have cost billions, which the Government cannot afford.
Sir Keir couldn’t let this happen. He needed a deal, and Mr Trump knew it.
That’s not to say Britain will suffer as a result of the deal. Free trade seems to be an unfashionable cause at the moment, but it’s a good thing, particularly for a small island nation like ours (and this still matters – goods still arrive largely by sea rather than air).
Having more access to US products at cheaper prices will improve our standard of living.
But while Sir Keir will celebrate the successful outcome of trade talks, so will Mr Trump – and it’s the US president who made this deal happen. His tariff policy destabilised the global economy, but he will take Thursday’s announcement as evidence that it’s working.