Keir Starmer has hit back at Donald Trump’s tariff threats with an apparent warning one million Americans working for British companies stand to be affected.
It comes as the president-elect indicated that he will slap tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China as soon as he re-enters the White House in January raising fears that the UK is next.
The prime minister is facing continued warnings that the UK faces economic isolation unless it chooses between a trade deal wth Trump’s US or closer ties with the EU.
But Labour ministers have so far refused to be cowed by the threat from the US or make further concessions on the Brexit reset when pressed in the Commons
In a briefing to journalists, No 10 highlighted the £304 billion that UK-US trade was worth over the last year.
It comes after the president-elect overnight threatened to unilaterally impose massive levies of 25 per cent on imports to the US from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office.
During the election, he announced plans to impose 20 per cent tariffs on all imports to the US, with the levy rising to 60 per cent for Chinese imports.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government is reportedly ready to retaliate if Mr Trump does threaten the UK – with Levi’s and Jack Daniel’s ‘on tariff hit list’.
But Labour insists it will resist Brexit concessions with EU, despite calls for Sir Kier not to take Mr Trump’s threats “on the chin” and to continue to pursue closer ties with the European Union, Britain’s largest export market.
In what will be widely seen as warning to Mr Trump over the implications of any tariffs imposed on the UK, Downing Street said: “A million Americans work for UK-owned businesses and vice versa and the fact that UK-US trade was worth £304 billion in the last year, clearly that is something that we want to build on.”
Asked in the Commons by Liberal Democrat MP James MacCleary about the president-elect’s confirmation of tariffs on Canada, one of the US’s closest allies, a foreign office minister Stephen Doughty also pointed to the number of jobs affected.
Mr Doughty told MPs: “We have a thriving trading and investment relationship with the United States, with more than one million British citizens working for US firms and vice versa.”
He added: “We look forward to working with President elect Trump in office, including on his policy priorities and to improve our trading relations.”
But he rejected Mr MacCleary’s calls to sit down with European allies to agree a new youth mobility scheme.
Mr Doughty told him: “We are engaged with a number of conversations with the EU… we will look at EU proposals on a range of issues but there are no plans for a youth mobility scheme nor will we return to freedom of movement.”
When it comes to reprisals, officials have told ministers that they can revive a package of EU measures against the US without having to launch an investigation, Politico has reported.
Placed on US goods during Mr Trump’s first term, following his levies on European steel, they were carried after Brexit.
They targeted a number of products synonymous with the US, which also included those made by Calvin Klein as well as American staples such as peanut butter.
The Liberal Democrats have called on the PM to “Trump-proof” the economy ahead of his inauguration.
