Exclusive:
US President Donald Trump has been threatening to slap tariffs on imports to the US, sparking fears the UK could be hit by higher taxes on trade, driving up prices at home
Rachel Reeves has said she wants to do a deal with Donald Trump to avoid tariffs that would hike up prices.
The new President has been threatening to slap taxes on imports to the US, and has singled out countries like Canada, Mexico and China as targets. The Chancellor insisted Mr Trump was worried about countries running massive trade surpluses with America, which the UK is not.
But she warned that barriers to trade would put up prices for ordinary people in the US as well as the UK. Ms Reeves told the Sunday Mirror: “President Trump wants to do deals around the world.
“The UK economy is not the economy that has caused problems for President Trump. He’s worried about countries that are running massive trade surpluses with the US – that is not the UK that is doing that.
“So I will make the case that having free and open trade between our two great countries is incredibly important. There are a million British people who work for American firms but there are also a million Americans who work for British firms.
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“I don’t think it’s in either our interests to put up barriers to trade that will put up prices for working people in America and in Britain, and will make it harder for two countries that are closely entwined to trade with each other.”
Asked if she thinks she can do a deal with Trump, she said: “That’s the plan.”
In 2023, the US was the UK’s largest import and export partner for services, and the UK’s largest export partner and second largest import partner for goods.
The UK imported £57.9billion of goods from the US – around 10% of all goods imports – and exported £60.4billion of goods – 15.3% of all goods exports, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
