Starmer urged to get tough with Trump as US tariff threat looms

Keir Starmer should fight back strongly against Donald Trump if he imposes punitive tariffs on British exports, senior UK and EU diplomats said last night, amid heightened fears that the US president could trigger a global trade war with devastating effects on the UK economy.

- Toby Helm

• UK stages last-ditch talks to strike trade deal

• PM told: be as robust as Canada with US

British government officials in London and Washington are working frantically this weekend to try to persuade Trump not to slap duties on more key UK industries on what he is calling "liberation day" on Wednesday. The US president has already announced plans for 25% levies on imports of cars, steel and aluminium to the US.

One vital battleground now is over Washington's threat to impose blanket reciprocal 25% tariffs on all countries that impose VAT on US exports. These countries include the UK and EU nations. The US does not impose VAT on its imports.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned last week that a 20% increase in tariffs between the US and the rest of the world would cut UK growth by 1% and "entirely eliminate" the £9.9bn of fiscal headroom that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, restored in the public finances by a painful programme of welfare and other cuts in her spring statement last week.

Starmer appears to be waiting to judge how to react, based on the level of any tariffs imposed on the UK.

He is said by government officials to be ready to "act in the national interest" if Trump does hit the UK hard. But his team also says that he will be "pragmatic" if need be - suggesting he may not retaliate immediately, in the hope of talking Trump round over time and with the aim of creating the conditions for signing a wider UK-US trade deal.