Rachel Reeves has appeared to blame Donald Trump after GDP fell by 0.3% in April. The Chancellor said “huge uncertainty about tariffs” had hit the UK economy hard.
Donald Trump sent markets into a spin earlier this year as he announced a series of tariffs on key imports and exports. The tariffs were largely directed at China and other competitors, but UK exports were still impacted.
Speaking to Sky News, the chancellor said: “There was a huge uncertainty about tariffs, and one of the things, if you dig into those GDP numbers today, is exports weakening and also production weakening because of that uncertainty in the world around tariffs.”
She also accepted that the latest stats were “disappointing” but went on to claim the slump in GDP was “not entirely unexpected.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with more information.
