Home Secretary Yvette Coope rdid not rule out the UK government hitting back with tit-for-tat measures but said talks were ongoing to reach a deal with the White House
Yvette Cooper has insisted “no option is off the table” in the UK government’s response to Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs.
The Home Secretary did not rule out the UK hitting back with tit-for-tat measures – but said talks were ongoing to reach a deal. The Cabinet minister also warned businesses did not want a trade war while hiking barriers to trade will harm the entire world’s economy. No10 is scrambling to carve out an exemption to Mr Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on US imports from April 2 – labelled “liberation day” by the President.
Earlier this week the White House announced tariffs would be introduced on all cars imported to the US, a measure expected to hit British luxury car makers like Rolls-Royce. The levy on cars is on top of a series of tariffs set to come into effect on April 2.
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday, Ms Cooper said: “Obviously we’re very disappointed at the US decision to introduce tariffs, including around auto and steel and so on. The Chancellor has said there are continuing intense discussions with the US.”
Asked whether the UK government would reach a deal with Washington by Wednesday, she replied: “We’ll keep discussion underway. But we’ll also keep all options on the table as well and the UK government will always be operating in the national interest for the UK as well.”
It came as the French minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot told Sky News the tariff threat was “unjustified”. He added: “The EU has already stated if we have further tariffs, we need a united response. We need a firm response, we need a proportionate response. We don’t want protectionism or a trade war… but the only way to make that clear is precisely to show that we have the ability to respond and hopefully de-escalate.”
Quizzed on whether the UK will also retaliate, Ms Cooper said: “The Prime Minister has said is no option is off the table. We will continue to approach this in the UK national interest.
“We obviously can’t keep a running commentary on different discussions that are taking place, but we have to always make sure that we’re acting in the national interest.”
It follows a grim warning last week that a 20% hike in US tariffs would hit UK growth and eliminate Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s wriggle room set out just days ago at the Spring Statement
Pressed on how damaging the tariffs could be, Ms Cooper added: “In the end, if you increase barriers to trade right across the world, that’s not good for the world economy, let alone any individual country as part of that. “So that’s why our approach to this has been to try and seek new trade agreements across the world, including improving our trading relationship with the EU as well as with the US.”
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