So if we take Trump at his word that ‘we will charge them the exact same tax or tariff’, then there is a good chance that the US imposes reciprocal tariffs that sum VAT rates and ... tariff rates together, possibly with additional tariff penalties for other non-tariff barriers.
“The average effective tariff rate on all US imports would rise from less than 3pc now to around 20pc, which would be double the impact we were expecting from a 10pc universal tariff.
Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, said America’s trade policy would expand to what he called a “reciprocal index” of the impacts of tariffs and other trade barriers.
The pound has risen to its highest value this year as the US Treasury said the Trump administration is considering currency manipulation as a potential trade bargaining chip.
Currency manipulation involves a government or central bank altering the value of its currency to gain an unfair economic advantage, typically by buying or selling a foreign currency to impact the exchange rate or by devaluing its own currency.
