DON'T PROVOKE NEW TRADE WAR THAT 'MAKES UK POORER

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch's warning to the PM as Trump tariffs strike

- Martyn Brown

KEMI Badenoch fears that a tit-for-tat trade war with Donald Trump will make millions of Britons poorer.

She urged Sir Keir Starmer not to hit back as US tariffs threatened to deal the UK economy a £30billion hammer blow.

The US president is expected to slap tariffs on imports from around the world today, in a Big Bang moment he calls "liberation day".

Estimates show that Britain faces a 1.1% fall in GDP if Mr Trump clobbers us with a 25% levy which could cut exports to the US by 70%. In a worst-case scenario where Britain ends up with a colossal 35% increase in US tariffs, trade drops by 80% - putting some 1.3% of domestic GDP at risk.

The figure may be nearer 20% in response to the rate of VAT which the Republican strongman deems to be discriminatory to the US.

Mr Trump has already announced a 25% tax on all cars imported to the US, which will be a blow to the UK motor industry. Some estimates claim it could cost 25,000 jobs if the tariffs were to last five years.

Some 16.9% of total UK car exports went to the US last year, at a value of £7.6billion.

Prime Minister Sir Keir has been working behind the scenes for weeks trying to earn the UK an exemption from Mr Trump's plan.

Mrs Badenoch demanded the UK should not hit back. She said: "We should not be engaging in a trade war or tit-for-tat retaliation that makes everybody poorer.