Jaguar Land Rover pauses US shipments as Starmer plots course over tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover is pausing shipments to the US as it works to "address the new trading terms" in the wake of Donald Trump's 10 per cent tariff on British goods coming into force.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

Sir Keir Starmer was expected to spend the weekend making back-to-back phone calls to world leaders about the tariffs, after talking with the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Italian PM, Giorgia Meloni, on Friday. In those calls, the leaders agreed that an “all-out trade war would be extremely damaging”.

Sir Keir was “clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest” and officials would “calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate”, a No 10 spokesperson said.

A 25 per cent tax on all imported cars came into effect on Thursday. Yesterday afternoon, Jaguar said it was “taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans”.

Jaguar Land Rover stressed that the US is an “important market” for its cars, and the difficult decision comes as businesses continue grappling with the new trade rules, and the fallout on the global stock markets.

The prime minister has so far been reluctant to retaliate after Mr Trump imposed the tax on UK exports to the US, promising instead to take a “cool-headed and pragmatic approach” to the conflict. With business groups backing the PM’s approach so far, he was holed up this weekend on diplomatic calls as world leaders coordinate their response to the tariffs.