Donald Trump has just slapped America’s biggest trade partners with a triple-header tariff hike.
China, Canada and Mexico, in just a few days’ time, will see their exports to the world’s largest economy saddled with 25 per cent tariffs – all thanks to the executive orders of the Commander-in-Chief.
On the President’s northern border, storm clouds are circling. Canada will retaliate against Trump’s move with 25 per cent levies on a raft of US imports, outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late on Saturday night.
“From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours,” he said. “We’ve built the most successful economic, military and security partnership the world has ever seen.”
“We didn’t ask for this but we will not back down,” Trudeau added.
Donald Trump signed three executive orders green-lighting trade tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada
REUTERS
And Trump isn’t done yet. A trade war looms – and the Brussels bloc is next in the firing line.
“I will impose tariffs on the European Union. Absolutely, I will put tariffs on the EU,” he said on Friday. “We’ll be doing something very substantial on tariffs with the European Union.”
Thanks to Brexit – which turned five on the same day Trump issued his EU threat – Britain is uniquely poised to dodge the opening salvos in the President’s trade war.
Back in November, Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who despite his party allegiance is a personal associate of Trump, said he believed the then-President-elect would have “sympathy” with Britain’s departure from the EU.
At the time, Murphy called it a “trade lane”. Now, it looks more like a trade lifeline.
MORE BREXIT VICTORIES:
New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil Murphy said he believed the then-President-elect would have “sympathy” with Brexit
GETTY
Britain is uniquely poised to benefit from stepping back from the EU – but Sir Keir Starmer will be in its heart on Monday to continue his “relationship reset” with the bloc.
The Prime Minister’s trip to Brussels has earnt the ire of Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice.
He told GB News: “Brexit has happened, but the dreams of many of us that fought for it and campaigned for it have not yet been realised.
“Keir Starmer does not have what it takes to build a mutually beneficial relationship with the US.
“He has embarrassed our country on the world stage, showing no control over our borders, a diminishing economy, blatant attacks on free speech, and cancelled elections.
‘Keir Starmer does not have what it takes to build a mutually beneficial relationship with the US,’ Richard Tice warned
PA
“Both the Conservatives and Labour have failed to properly implement Brexit, and have failed to build the kind of relationship with America that would be mutually beneficial for the both of us.
“With Reform UK in Government, Brexit will show its true colours and trade will be able to flourish.
“Reform UK has a unique advantage over any other party in terms of properly implementing Brexit.
“We have a better relationship with the US, with Trump’s administration, and can organise better trade deals that do not have to revolve around the EU.”
His remarks came following a week of landmark polls for Nigel Farage’s party.
Seven nationwide voting intention surveys made headlines over recent days – some of which placed Reform in standalone first place.
Tice’s remarks came following a week of landmark polls for Nigel Farage’s party
PA
“Reform UK are now ahead of the Conservatives in every major opinion poll for the first time. We are just getting started,” Farage said – which Trump ally and tech tycoon Elon Musk hailed as “impressive” on X, his social media platform.
But any future Reform Government, barring a catastrophe for Labour, would still take four years to arrive – so in the meantime, Britain settle with Labour at the helm.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has urged the Prime Minister to resist the EU’s clutches and establish a trade deal with the US instead.
And Farage, a friend of the President, has said Britain could side-step Trump’s barrage of European tariffs entirely – but with conditions.
“We’re in a very good position to negotiate our own way out not just of tariffs, but to move quite quickly onto some sectoral free trade negotiations,” the Reform leader said.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has urged the Prime Minister to resist the EU’s clutches and establish a trade deal with the US
PA
“Trump’s personal instinct on trade with the UK, I can tell you first-hand, has always been positive,” he added.
“We’ve got fantastic opportunities to show our flexibility and why Brexit was a good idea, but Chagos would sink it.”
And Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf pinpointed one key reason why Trump might let Brexit Britain off the hook.
Unlike Canada, China, the EU and Mexico, which all run enormous trade surpluses at the US’s expense, the UK remains in a trade deficit with the US.
Writing on social media, Yusuf said: “Were it not for Brexit, the US would have imposed 25 per cent tariffs on UK goods.
“Make no mistake: the only reason the UK is not subject to US tariffs is because both countries report the US having a trade surplus with the UK.
“It’s despite the awful relationship Starmer has with the new Trump administration.”
‘Were it not for Brexit, Trump would have imposed 25 per cent tariffs on UK goods,’ Zia Yusuf said
REUTERS
“Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on the EU will cripple already withering EU economies,” Yusuf added. “These tariffs make the idea the UK should forge a closer union with the EU a quick-fire path to 25 per cent tariffs on UK goods. Thank goodness for Brexit!”
Despite running a trans-Atlantic trade deficit, steering clear of American levies will help protect Britain’s trade with its largest single trading partner.
The US ranked first for exports at £188.2billion in the year ending June 2024 – representing a staggering 22.1 per cent of all goods and services heading out of the UK.
And America still ranked first for imports over the same period, with £116.1billion representing 13.2 per cent of Britain’s overall haul.
But recent Downing Street statements suggest that Starmer looks set to infuriate Trump by “committing” the UK to the surrender the strategic Chagos Islands.
Farage has hinted at using his own “special relationship” with the President to help the UK side-step Trump’s tariffs.
That would represent a follow-through to the Reform leader’s 2024 hint at taking on the role of trans-Atlantic “interlocutor” – despite the imminent appointment of Labour grandee Lord Mandelson as British ambassador.
So in the face of Mandelson’s stint in Washington, it appears that Brexit could pay dividends yet.
