The UK government will “wait and see” whether tariffs announced by Donald Trump “actually come to pass”, a senior minister said.
Canada and Mexico have readied retaliatory tariffs should the duties come into effect, as has the EU, which Trump has repeatedly threatened, while China has already taken retaliatory steps to a 10% tariff on its exports to the US.
The BCC’s head of trade policy, William Bain, has urged the UK government not to “get sucked into a trade war of tit-for-tat tariffs, which could easily spiral out of control”.
Asked what the government’s response to Trump’s announcement was, McFadden said: “Wait and see what it means, it’s the best reaction to everything over the last month.
Trump has announced a series of tariffs throughout the first few weeks of his presidency, including earlier this week imposing a 25% levy on steel imports.
