Starmer raised the tariffs during a 20-minute call with Trump on Monday. “We remain prepared to defend the U.K.’s national interest where it’s right to do so,” a No 10. spokesperson said afterwards.
European Union leaders have threatened to bite back against Trump with retaliatory duties on bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Yet Britain is unlikely to retaliate, an official from the U.K.’s Department for Business and Trade who agreed to speak anonymously to discuss sensitive trade issues told POLITICO.
In Britain, “we’re not going to have a kneejerk reaction,” the official said, pointing out No. 10 Downing Street is emphasizing the U.K. will “continue to take a cool-headed approach” to tariffs and Trump’s antagonistic trade policy.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been in touch with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “regularly” and spoke with him over the weekend to secure exemptions for Britain’s sectors, they said. But Lutnick said on Sunday the tariffs will go ahead.
Reynolds emphasized to Lutnick that “we’ve got a balanced trading relationship that works on both sides,” the U.K. trade official said. Ministers and U.K. Ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, have repeatedly argued that trade between the two countries is not lopsided with large trade deficits.
Rather than retaliating with tariffs on U.S. goods, Reynolds’ “priority is engaging constructively, pragmatically and trying to find a solution,” the U.K. trade official emphasized. “That’s what standing up for industry means.”
