BRITAIN might get sucked into Donald Trump’s trade war, the Business Secretary has admitted.
Jonathan Reynolds said he “can’t promise” the UK will be spared America’s tariff blitz but was working to soften the blow as much as possible.
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He even suggested that the EU and China were more suitable targets for the President’s wrath.
Mr Trump has threatened “reciprocal tariffs” with countries that sell more to the United States than they import.
He has also implied he views VAT as a tariff, which would put Britain in the frame for around 20 per cent taxes on our US exports.
Asked on Times Radio if Britain could dodge Trump’s trade war, Mr Reynolds said: “I can’t promise that, but I can promise we are engaged on the basis of a way forward.
“The big complaint from the new administration is in the big deficits on trading goods that the US has with the EU and with China.
“They don’t have that with us. We have a balanced, strong, mutually, reciprocally beneficial relationship, that is what we need to build on.
“There are some specific issues they’ve raised with us. We’ve come back to them and we’re going to continue that engagement because we believe it’s in our mutual interest to keep that relationship strong.”
The Cabinet Minister said he would “strongly refute the idea that VAT is a tariff” as it applies to domestic products as well as imports.
Britain’s largest export market to the US – and so the most vulnerable to tariffs – are medical and pharmaceutical products worth around £8.8billion per year.
That is followed by cars, mechanical power generators, and organic chemicals.
Sir Keir Starmer is due to visit the White House in the next few weeks for talks with Mr Trump.
