The US has done plenty of homework to prepare for “Liberation Day”. Their doomsday book of tariffs and trade frictions produces long lists of extra costs and charges imposed on US exports. The EU has a particularly long list. With foods it combines high tariffs with bans and elaborate regulations to make it more difficult for US farmers and food companies.
The UK still has a lot of these barriers from its EU days, though it has sensibly taken tariffs off 20% of all product lines into UK to give our consumers more choice and lower prices. The UK could and should go further.
The UK imposes a digital tax on US digital companies. It bans some US food products altogether. It charges four times as much on a US car import than they charge on our car exports. The UK is wrongly planning the big carbon border tax or tariff.
We still do not know if President Trump just plans to use tariffs to arm wrestle our trade barriers down to a fair and lower level. That makes sense and if well executed reductions by both sides are achieved , boosting prosperity and lower prices.The UK government was wrong not to table an early tariff free draft Agreement with the US. Sometimes President Trump says he wants to impose high general tariffs as a source of revenue. That hits both the exporters and the US consumers facing higher prices for imports. He would need to cut other taxes to offset the impact of a high tariff tax rise on US households.
Retaliating by imposing high tariffs ourselves would increase the damage. It would be yet another tax on UK consumers. The EU threats of retaliation is not going to stop the US imposing tariffs on them.
April 2, 2025
Good morning.
President Trump is using tariffs as a bargaining tool. ie “If you want to trade with us, give us a better deal.”
I am sure the US Administration has done its homework and that part of future pressure points will come in the form of NATO and the US involvement in it.
With all this going on elsewhere people are seriously not looking at the big picture and see China ramping up its operations against Taiwan. Taiwan where most of the chips and components are made for our modern world.
April 2, 2025
Yes, where in the MSM have you seen the war gaming by China, only over the last few days, of the PRC navy working out how to blockade Taiwan. That is where the US should be preparing for a conflict, it cannot waste time on the lazy, misguided EU/Europeans. If we cannot be bothered to defend ourselves why should anybody else.
Western Europe, needs a complete reset; we need 100% energy (lots of gas and oil) independence, we need 80% food independence and we need a credible military defence. I see Germany is at last taking this seriously – sort of. Well, we better get moving on this or we will be ‘disappeared’, like other weak, mismanaged nations.
April 2, 2025
I have know for many months now that China has constructed very sophisticated invasion barges, and ALL of its commercial ferries are designed to take heavy military vehicles.
As I said before. Russia is not a threat to the UK and the USA needs to divert men and material elsewhere as its own tech industry is heavily involved in Taiwan. Even bikes sold here are made in Taiwan.
With respect, our kind host does not cover this, certainly not as much as he does say Ukraine, which is fine as it is his site and he chooses what to talk about. But Taiwan is vastly more important to us and the world economy and deserve more attention.
April 2, 2025
Trump is moving manufacturing back home.
The west can’t be dependent on Taiwan for anything – or indeed any other alien country. Taiwan belongs to China, just as Hong Kong belongs to China.
I don’t want to fight for it, let’s see if we can keep control of the Panama Canal and Kent.
April 2, 2025
It will be interesting to see the fate of those ladies arrested for quietly standing outside abortion clinics. Clearly JD Vance has not forgotten about them. Tariff breaks may require the UK to adopt more sensible policies about silent protest.
April 2, 2025
The USA is quite correct to highlight the suppression of free speech un England, and indeed should go much further and bring in sanctions against individuals in the political parties, the judiciary, BBC and the police here.
April 2, 2025
+1
April 2, 2025
@Mark B – agreed.
The talk and posturing suggest the US simply wants reciprocity. The situation existed last time Trump was President all the antagonist the UK and the EU then just wanted to talk and kick things into the long grass. After-all they were getting rich on the backs of others.
This time out Trump having learnt by being kicked in the teeth, that talk is a diversion, what is needed is action. Treat one and other with respect and reciprocity and all the ill feeling will disappear.
April 2, 2025
It is rumoured that the factory in Taiwan that makes the most advanced chips (each transistor (apparently) the size of an atom!) in the world, is wired to self destruct if China invades.
There is some info on this facility in Edmund Conway’s book Material World. It’s a very interesting book. I had never thought how completely dependent our way of life is in sand.
April 2, 2025
One thing about Donald is he has the measure of the EU. He has exposed it for the protectionist racket that it really is.
The border carbon tax is an ill disguised revenue stream for Brussels and will do nothing to save the planet. Watch them squeal now other countries impose similar tariffs.
As far as I remember we still apply customs on finished coffee products and bananas, neither of which we produce. Why haven’t the whole swathe of tariffs been removed dictated by the EU. Oh. I know, we never really left
Reply We took tariffs off one fifth of all product lines when we left including products we do not produce
April 2, 2025
Does that include finished coffee products and bananas.
April 2, 2025
According to the government website we impose tariffs between 7.5 and 9%. Why.
April 2, 2025
I think it is to do with protecting some Caribbean producers ?
April 2, 2025
I wonder if northern ireland shares the same tariffs with the UK or EU
April 2, 2025
Did anything get cheaper as a result. I haven’t noticed.
I have noticed that coffee in my local cafes has gone up by 50p or so in the last couple of weeks. A bottle of Asahi 0% beer at a seafront hotel last night was £5. Last year it was £4.50. It seems inflation is getting in for 20% – not the 3% the establishment is pretending.
April 2, 2025
Trump and Vance have also made clear that free speech is dependent on trade. The recent bill imposes huge fines on websites which allow criticism of government policy dressed up as equality legislation. This bill mirrors the EU censorship legislation of course. When he was told of their concerns at the cosy but ineffective chat at the White House, Starmer said that we had a long tradition of free speech. Trump must be aware that he has instructed judges to imprison those caught saying the wrong words in his opinion. The UK government has a choice of whether to ruin the luxury car and drinks industries or to try to fine American internet companies.
April 2, 2025
The Online Safety Act which was enthusiastically brought in by the Conservatives has already caused hundreds of of small harmless discussion forums to close because the administration of them has become too onerous (age verification, scanning the content of all messages etc.) and the penalties for violating the bill are too severe (prison). Thus small online communities discussing pets, and motorbikes, and local football teams have gone for good. The only companies who have the resources to comply and host discussion groups are the handful of big tech companies who the bill was supposedly aimed at in the first place, so it cements their monopolies and lets them harvest user data and control who is allowed to post and what gets posted. It really is a disgraceful act for the Conservatives to have implemented.
April 2, 2025
Which I argue, was the entire point. They were getting too competitive with the Legacy Media.
April 2, 2025
@Stred +1
The US recognises that trade with sovereign democracies is the best trade as mutual respect and reciprocity is in-bread and part of the ethos. The UK has evolved this Century into a One Party Socialist State, where them & us prevails – in reality a two tier nation. That makes it hard for other Nations, as the dictators run a two tier system, in free speech, in laws and everything else cannot be relied on. You no longer get to deal with a free-people, but political terrorists.
April 2, 2025
+1
April 2, 2025
You cover today’s tariff issue rationally and knowledgeably. Most of our media will not follow your lead. I can’t imagine the BBC or C4 will highlight the high tariffs/tariff-like barriers the EU already imposes on US imports.
I’ll have to muster some real information as I can see that I’m going to have to gently counter misunderstanding about the tariffs amongst friends and relatives. Same seems to go for many things, these days.
April 2, 2025
I agree wanderer.
When we import goods from the EU to the UK we are required to pay 20% vat, if the item is worth more than £135 then an import duty cost will be incurred,you have to add up the value of the goods, freight costs, insurance and any additional costs then multiply by the duty rate the result is the amount you need to pay customs.
Goods that have a value below £39 will be duty and tax free. Goods between £40 a d £135 will be duty free but subject to VAT @ 29% for most goods. Goods over £135 will be charged duty and VAT .
“The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provisionally entered into force on 1 May 2021 and provides for zero tariffs and zero quotas on all trade of EU and UK goods that comply with the appropriate rules of origin.” Taxation and customs union eu.
So, how is Trump treating us any differently than the EU do? He said its all about reciprocity, so if we want less duty and VAT (tariff) from the USA, then we have to give them the same treatment that we expect.
April 2, 2025
If the Not-a-Conservative-Party hadn’t fought so hard to try and prevent us from leaving the EU then we would have regained our full independence and had a trade treaty with the USA during Trump’s first term.
But the Treacherous Tories didn’t do it. So now Two-Tier is going to have to choose between democracy/free speech and a trade treaty with the USA; or technocracy/authoritarianism and being controlled by the EU.
On the evidence so far, he is incapable of making the right decision.
April 2, 2025
Oh he will make a decision. It all depends on which side you think is right or not ?
April 2, 2025
@Donna +1 – and they didn’t learn. The same collective responsibility team is still in charge, the Socialist Liberal Democrats. They have created barriers to ensure no Conservative can enter the party that is currently calling itself Conservative
April 2, 2025
Correct Donna
April 2, 2025
The UK is not well placed to navigate the post Trump tariffs world. Apart from the direct consequences of any changes to UK-US tariff regimes, global trade looks set for huge disruption. This will change the prospects and potential for the rest of UK global exports to those other markets because the impact on those markets of Trump tariffs will not be benign. The OBR projections, on which Reeve’s relies, are DOA. When will the UK government and the blob wake up to reality?
April 2, 2025
The OBR Projections, as I am sure our kind host would agree, have never been reliable.
April 2, 2025
Reality is now on its way. Yesterday PopCon launched a new Economic Forecasting Agency to compete with the Office for Budget Responsibility. Their models are based on more reliable methods than those of the OBR, who are so often billions awry.
April 2, 2025
How do you know that ‘their models are based on more reliable methods than those of the OBR’ given they have not produced any forecast yet? Whether their GHE system (=‘Glass Half Empty’ ie OBR projection minus 0.4%), their NHADC projection (a random number drawn between a growth of 0.5% and 2.5%) or their PLFS model (Perfect Load Forecasting Strategy) to give a 5-year forecast, you should have considered the date: April 1st.
April 2, 2025
There are monthly forecasts of GDP (and of other variables: consumption, investment, demand, imports, exports) published every month (gov.uk, last one 19/03/2025 ‘Forecasts for the UK economy: A comparison of independent forecasts’) by City (banks) and non-City (BCC, CBI, NIESR, …, OECD, IMF). Anybody can look at them and see how OBR scores against those.
Saying as some say here that the OBR forecasts are bad simply shows that they have never looked at other forecasts, might not understand how these are made, don’t understand what a mean forecast is and what the standard deviation around it can indicate, and more simply believe what someone tells them without ever checking themselves.
‘GDP: A brief but affectionate history’, D.Coyle, 2015.
April 2, 2025
Give them a chance hefner.
The OBR’s track record hasn’t been perfect has it?
April 2, 2025
I see you’ve replied to yourself hefner.
What fun.
I’ve looked at other forecasts thanks.
PS
I notice you are suggesting anyone who dares to challenge your accepted orthodoxy ” might not understand ”
Or
” simply believes what someone tells them”
Not you of course.
April 2, 2025
Hefner their models could not possibly be more awry than those of the OBR. So the statement is correct. The models might not be perfect but certainly better than the utter bull coming from the OBR, which is on a level with Imperial College and the infamous adulterous ‘professor’.
April 3, 2025
According to the US Trade Secretary (or is it the Treasury one), DJT’s figures are based on the rate of trade imbalance divided by the amount of imports divided by 2: for example for the EU the US Census data give (in $bn) 235 / 605 * 0.5 = 0.194 so 20% tariff.
How is it possible to get 10% for the UK if the US Trade Secretary (Lutnick or Bessent?) is right?
April 3, 2025
hefner:
Mark Littlewood announced and stated the prophesy on GB News on 1st April, including specific numbers. Only retrospect will reveal whether the OBR is worth keeping instead.
For those interested in some of the detail, SJR might agree to allow the website being shown here:
https://www.popularconservatism.com/popcon_press_release_new_economic_forecasting_agency_launched_to_compete_with_the_obr
April 3, 2025
Bloke, Did you actually read the website? Did the ‘square root of the number of Premier League goals in the season divided by 25’ as PLFS not ring a bell?
April 4, 2025
hefner:
Premier League might refer to football, which many prefer to know nothing about. Tiddlywinks and watching paint dry are more exciting. I didn’t hear a bell, but a fruit machine has several, with less of a gamble than the OBR.
April 4, 2025
B, Thanks for taking that with humour.
April 2, 2025
@Oldtimer92 – reality is not in their World, but ideology and political terrorism rules the roost.
I do it, many of us do it, we suggest the OBR has a meaning. Just as with the BoE and the ONS all recent inventions all failures in there own right in having never been right on anything – but that is a whole other subject
April 2, 2025
‘We still do not know if President Trump just plans to use tariffs to arm wrestle our trade barriers down to a fair and lower level.’ I feel that we’re in for a long tariff-war and that Trump will seek to pay for eventual reductions in income-tax with revenue from tariffs. Will his plan backfire? Well, I have positioned my US investments as defensively as I can, so put me down as a sceptic. Will Milei’s plan work? Yes, it looks like it will.
April 2, 2025
@Sea_Warrior – never loose sight of the fact it is the UK and others that started this War and not the US.
Milei has put he nation on a steadier ground by fighting his own Countries waste, recognising that the economy is not the money you spend but what you spend it on. The US on the other hand has been feeding others(the UK included) to have no mutual benefit or respect shown – just take. Freeloaders, the Entitled.
April 2, 2025
Tariffs can equalise the costs that home producers experience when competing with imports.
Gordon Brown attempted to do this using tax credits to keep wages lower through government subsidy and our gas and electricity costs are the highest in the world due to government policy. Employment legislation, health and safety and data protection are all higher cost in this country.
Tariffs could protect our industry but we choose to import cheap tat.
I salute President Trump in equalising competition. Consumers need to realise that globalism has a cost, it doesn’t just mean cheaper goods. That realisation will come in the form of increased prices.
April 2, 2025
@Narrow Shoulders +1
April 2, 2025
He has actually not even equalised – he’s taken half – we have a chance to sort ourselves out. But he did scare the idiot political class and it has to be pretty starck to get through their thick heads.
Cars are done though, he wants to keep his promise to the manufacturers in the USA. They will make their own cars.
April 2, 2025
Neither Labour not the Conservatives would ever have implemented a proper free trade agreement with USA because of the single issue of chlorinated chicken which the UK press has generated a big panic about (just as they did during Covid). Of course the majority of those complaining about it would happily eat chicken if they were in the USA on holiday – in fact I’ve never hear of anyone who went there and refused to eat it.
April 2, 2025
We don’t want the grey squirrel of American culture / politics and to a degree, economics, eating up our red squirrel British culture etc.
This is also a matter of patriotism in defending our traditional way of life from American culture and so on (just as there is in defending ourselves from the EU – and others).
To be British isn’t just about being non-EU but also about being non-American.
(But we should try and achieve all this diplomatically too).
How so many of our beautiful towns have been ruined by American shopping malls and ugly American signage etc. We need to claim our country back from all this – not just from the EU.
April 2, 2025
Eating up British Culture. I think there is more risk of that from our own politicians and teachers than anything Trump wants to do to rebalance trade.
Did you hear any politician, Mayor or royal figure celebrate pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) the start of lenten fast, it will be interesting how much fuss is made of Easter. April 23rd – barely a glance it could be connected to Shakespeare’s Day fete. A May parade with he crowning of the May Queen, are we having Maypole Dancing in London this year? Are all the London pearly kings and queens being promoted for their charitable causes? Do any schools still celebrate end of the year with country dances as we used to at school.
April 2, 2025
And I would imagine they would wash chicken under their water taps back at home in their kitchens, dispite our water being chlorinated.
April 2, 2025
Roy
Indeed, Chlorinated Chicken and the US Health Care System are always to two things that are highlighted most in any sort of opposition to the USA.
April 2, 2025
Agreed Roy. I’ve ingested a large amounts of US & Canadian steak, burger, ribs and chicken over the years and never been worried about doing so, nor seen any side effects. I also regularly consume UK Salads, which are routinely chlorinated, again without any ill effects.
I can also remember ordering Steak Tartare as a young man in Zurich without realising exactly what is was. I found it completely inedible and (having spent my daily allowance) had to go hungry that night. A bit of US Chicken would have been very welcome that evening.
April 2, 2025
@Roy Grainger – they are happy to have chlorinated tap water ( the gas that hits me opening the tap here can be over whelming). They are also happy to by packeted salad leave etc washed in chlorine
April 2, 2025
Caroline Lucas said in the Commons that it seemed to be safe to eat, her issue was with animal welfare standards.
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2025/01/27/changing-the-eu-free-trade-agreement-will-just-increase-our-imports-from-europe/#comment-1496068
“Although there appears to be no clear scientific evidence that it poses a substantial risk to human health …”
I am always sceptical when farmers, UK or EU or whatever, claim that imports are inferior to their produce. If we want to maintain home food production despite it being uncompetitive then it should be subsidised.
April 3, 2025
Yes.
American chlorinated chicken …. bad.
EU chlorinated bagged salad leaves …. good.
April 2, 2025
It would be very foolish of UK to implement tit-for-tat tariffs on the US – how would it benefit UK to make steel imports from USA more expensive when we don’t make any steel ourselves ? It must seem like an attractive form of extra revenue for Reeves though. I have some sympathy with Trump’s view that VAT is a type of tariff because UK producers can claim it back on inputs to their products – when we left the EU all VAT and tariff rates should have been reviewed and adjusted, we retained a lot of agricultural tariffs which were designed to benefit to EU not the UK.
April 2, 2025
Tariff’s, as I said in an earlier post, are paid by the consumer (ie You and me) and not by the exporting country, manufacturer or importing country (eg UK / UK Government). In fact it will be the governments of the importing country that will gain as it is a tax they can levy on their own people and blame others due to ignorance on how it all works.
But don’t get me wrong, I do not think tariff’s are all bad. Certain tariff’s can be beneficial if used well and wisely.
April 2, 2025
@Roy Grainger – how can you have a tit-for-tat when it is you (the UK) that has the tariffs, trade barriers already in place to keep the US out. While the US has had a relaxed attitude, that was never ever near to being equal or on reciprocal basis to the imposition the UK already imposes on them. The UK started the trade war – the US has woken up to it. Solvable tomorrow by reducing UK trade barriers and tariff to equal those that the US imposes on us – its that simple
April 2, 2025
What Trump wants to do is cause major panic and a rush to the table by vulnerable governments to plead their special case – it is designed to divide humiliate subjugate insult just like happened to Zelensky in the oval office and we shouldn’t be so quick to fall into that trap – it fits well with his narcissistic behaviour. However there is strength in unity and the EU has it so watch how they play it over the next few weeks/ months – Also it is arguable the world economic tectonic plates are changing and Europe may now do a special deal with Canada and maybe the Brics – anything can happen.
April 2, 2025
With the $trillions being salvaged by Musk from wasteful practices any extra deficits due to tariffs should not be a problem.
It really is time someone in authority started to investigate the waste and misdirected spending that occurs in the UK – but of course that isn’t on this government’s agenda, far from it!
Surely, tariffs are meant to cause pain – they are being used unfairly with some countries taking advantage. We should certainly remove tariffs for our best trading partners, which doesn’t necessarily include the EU as they would see that as a weakness and still try to take advantage.
Whatever Trump does, the left will make outrageous claims – his enemies know how to whip up hatred and misinformation on something that should be a straight forward re-aligning. It is likely he will make some punishing changes which on the whole will be completely deserved.
After this has all settled down we should be able to look forward to more reasonable tariff rates, or ideally tariff free.
April 2, 2025
Maybe we should put a tariff on the nuclear weapons and the fighter aircraft F35 we buy from the USA
After all, there are only two conditions to impose a tariff (1) increase tax revenue & (2) protect an industry/jobs thereby creating a level playing field against imported goods
April 2, 2025
I am disposed to like free trade but it should not be a one way street. Nor should we allow, as so often happened in the supposed free market within the E.U., other countries to hinder our exports with their own peculiar regulatory barriers, while we allowed genuine free trade into our country. Trump certainly has a point insofar as imbalances in trading conditions are unfair.
April 2, 2025
Keir Strarmer rarely made a sensible decision in not reacting instantly to the introduction of tariffs. Unfortunately, most of his other decisions are misguided and damaging.
April 2, 2025
Sir John
Many people get wound up on what they call ‘free trade’. We have/had a free trade agreement with the EU – but does this on balance offer the UK anything? China has better access with less restriction and is the EU’s largest external supplier. The UK get from the EU its Laws, Regulations and Rules that override our own legislators and their Courts that override ours inside our own Country. Its(the EU’s) primary purpose appears to be to open up UK markets and resources to one or two powerful EU Nations with nothing given in return – they want to take UK Territorial waters fish, but refuse to buy it. And many more instances. As was said by the EU negotiators with glee on completion of the withdrawal agreement – the UK is now our Colony now
The single biggest trading nation for the UK is the US, yet the UK Government is disingenuous with them. We have no free trade agreement(that was never the point or needed) with them yet we have arrived at the advantageous trading situation with the US without them imposing laws, regulations and rules on us in our own Country, without their Courts overriding ours. Yet at the same time we impose our embedded unbalanced EU Laws, Rules Regulations and Tariffs on the US.
It is never ‘free trade’ that is needed but mutual respect reciprocal trade. Our people respect the market place of others and they respect ours. No false barriers, no punitive import duties just those trading also contributing to those they wish to profit from on an equal basis to the indigenous taxpayers
April 2, 2025
How many American cars are imported to UK? I read that an import fee might be 10%, and VAT of 20%.
Surely we can remove this cost in a quid pro quo with any action Trump takes against us?
April 2, 2025
The export fee is 25% British cars to the USA.
April 3, 2025
There’s only one british car left …the Morgan, all else are foreign owned
April 2, 2025
In the past few days I read an article saying that Clinton allowed China to join the WTO with the special status of a developing country and it still has that advantageous status. I have not been able to find that article but this is from April 2008 and it has Trump complaining about that:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/04/06/wto-offers-advantages-china-unfair-us-president-trump-says-dashing/
“”China, which is a great economic power, is considered a developing nation within the World Trade Organisation. They therefore get tremendous perks and advantages, especially over the US. Does anybody think this is fair. We were badly represented. The WTO is unfair to US,” Mr Trump tweeted.””
So it’s a quarter of a century since Clinton argued that it would be good for the US to have China in the WTO with that special status, and at least seven years since Trump argued that China should no longer have that privileged status because it was not good for the US, and now we are all caught up in it.
April 2, 2025
April 2018, not April 2008.
April 2, 2025
“The UK still has a lot of these barriers from its EU days, …….The UK could and should go further.” – it should have gone much further years and years ago of course.
Needed was a second Ludwig Erhard at the BEIS, instead we had Kemi et al. The need is even greater today, faced as we are with Wrecker Reeves’s anti-growth approach.
April 2, 2025
“If, well executed the tariffs could lead to more trade and lower prices”
Sir John, tariffs never lead to lower prices of more trade but most often the opposite.
Why, do you write such nonsense?
Reply If the policy of both sides reducing tariffs!
April 3, 2025
I presume therefore Bill that you are totally opposed to the protectionist tariffs currently applied by the EU.
April 3, 2025
What protectionist tariffs currently applied by the EU? You cannot simply repeat the bull proferred in the DT or DM or Sun.
As pointed out by the EU itself the £2.5-3.5bn tariffs paid by UK exporters are essentially linked to them (10% of those exporters) not claiming those fees back on their customs declarations.
gov.uk 02/07/2021 ‘The UK’s new relationship with the EU’
bbc.co.uk 28/05/2021 ‘British exports worth billions have faced EU tariffs since Brexit’.
If UK exporters don’t know how to fill a form they might be better off not exporting or doing something else, what about becoming a politician or a MiB?
April 3, 2025
Total nonsense hefner
There are lots of tariffs applied by the EU on imports into the EU.
Do some research.
Look them up.
April 2, 2025
I wonder what considerations the US has made of the effect on exchange rates
April 2, 2025
Notwithstanding tariffs, would you eat any food produced in the USA? I don’t.
Would you drive an American car? Nope.
I won’t buy another HP computer.
I’m about to install Ubuntu on my laptop. I’m sick of Windows.
I need to find a substitute for my iPhone.
If we implement reciprocal tariffs, will we put tariffs on goods made in China by US owned companies?
April 2, 2025
We have not been briefed on the subjects discussed during the regular Starmer/Trump phone calls, so there’s nowt to do but wait. The UK, unlike the EU, does have a trade deficit with the USA, and we’re no longer a member of the Brussels Group. I trust this was expressed to the President and hope he’ll not hit us at all. But there is the worry of Britsh Steel being owned by a Chinese company affiliated to the CCP and that will not sit well in the Whitehouse.
Why did we ever let Communists buy majority shareholdings in OUR country? Both Labour and Conservatives and LibDFems are to blame here.
April 2, 2025
Since most medicines they import are coming from UK and the EU so where are the American public now going to find affordable medicines – because the cost of everyday medicine in the US is already way too expensive.
April 3, 2025
Graham
They will probably make them themselves, under licence if needs be.
That is the whole point of Trumps Tariff Policy.
April 2, 2025
We shouldn.t be worried by tariff barriers because according to the CCC’s 7th Carbon Budget:
“Electrifying industry allows UK manufacturers to benefit from global demand for low-carbon goods.”
Which is just as well as our Civil Service intends to add a CBAM duty to our imports in those sectors where their de-industrialisation policy has led to the end of UK manufacture so as to curb demand in the pursuit of Net Zero 2050.
April 2, 2025
Just a reminder that whatever happens with Trump’s tariffs the negative impact on the UK economy will be far smaller than the cumulative lost growth since 2008 due to the reduced trend growth rate for the past 16 years.
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2025/02/13/economic-inheritances-2/#comment-1498688
“Using today’s update from the ONS:
Average annual growth rates before and after the 2008 global financial crisis:
1948 – 2008 2.73%
2008 – 2024 1.13%
If the previous growth rate had continued for the past 16 years GDP would now be 28% higher than it is.”
But I now think that the drop in trend growth rate is more likely attributable to the net zero crusade.
April 2, 2025
In other news today in the Commons –
Motion to approve the Draft Infrastructure Planning (Onshore Wind and Solar Generation) Order 2025, was passed today, an order to support Milibands net-zero plan …….with 21 Tory MPs abstaining ….that’s a 6th of Tory MPs
April 2, 2025
Russia was not in the list?
April 2, 2025
the big tariffs on imports from China and India are correct on trumps part, we should do the same. those countries use child and slave labour, steal intellectual property on a grand scale, use far cheaper less effective anti pollution kit than we do, same for safety kit, they use dirty and cheap power. we should not expect our own businesses to have to compete against that.
April 3, 2025
Agree
April 3, 2025
I have a lot of sympathy with The Donald over his imposition of Tariffs.
The rest of the world has been taking advantage of the US for decades, especially China and the EU.
As far as Europe is concerned, the likes of Merkel and successive French Presidents cynically treated the US with contempt, while at the same time, Merkel and others relied on the US to pay for their defence. We have at least paid for our defence, although the last Conservative government ran down our contribution to NATO disgracefully.
The EU and the UK have erected non-tariff trade barriers to keep out US goods, especially food and vehicles. This needs to stop. If British consumers want to buy American chicken and beef, they should be able to choose to do so, as long as the products are accurately labelled.
April 3, 2025
The issue of high rates of VAT levied on all goods by the UK and EU countries is an interesting one. Car buyers are particularly hard hit here with at least 25% tax, whereas US sales tax rarely creeps above 10%, and in some states, it is a lot lower, or zero.
UK buyers of US motorcycles, cars, and pickup trucks have been paying a 10% tariff AND 20% VAT, although a business can claim back the VAT on most pickups. We also have to pay a considerable extra road tax on most new vehicle for the first five years. That alone is the equivalent of around another 5% of VAT.
A 25% US tariff therefore seems fair, especially as HMG also levies VAT on the 10% tariff !
Of course, Theeves could always reduce VAT…………..
April 3, 2025
Starmer is taking credit for the 10% lower tariff compared with 20% for EU.
Brexit dividend credit belongs to Leavers not Remainers!