Canada and Mexico have readied retaliatory tariffs should the duties come into effect, as has the EU, which Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened, while China has already taken retaliatory steps to a 10 per cent tariff on its exports to the US.
The impact of the announcement on the UK was not immediately clear, but the policy published by the White House included VAT as a target for reciprocal tariffs - which analysts have suggested could knock around £24bn off UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next two years.
Pressed on whether the government would respond with retaliatory measures to Mr Trump, the minister said: “What I said is that we will have a cool, clear look at what’s in the national interest, and we will respond accordingly, based on what we actually have in fact.”.
George Saravelos, the global head of FX Research at Deutsche Bank, told The Telegraph that the UK would face extra charges of 21 per cent if the US imposed duties based on tariff policy and VAT combined.
President Trump has announced a series of tariffs throughout the first few weeks of his presidency, including earlier this week imposing a 25 per cent levy on steel imports.
