Trump warned US workers in Britain at risk from tariffs

Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at Donald Trump’s tariff threats with an apparent warning that 1 million Americans working for British companies stand to be affected.

- KATE DEVLIN & DAVID MADDOX

It comes as the president-elect indicated that he will impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China as soon as he re-enters the White House in January, raising fears that the UK is next.

The prime minister is facing continued warnings that the UK will be economically isolated unless it chooses between a trade deal with Mr Trump’s US and closer ties with the EU. But Labour ministers have so far refused to be cowed by the threat from the US, or commit to making further concessions on the Brexit reset, when pressed in the Commons.

In a briefing to journalists, No 10 highlighted the £304bn that UK-US trade was worth over the last year.

It comes after the president-elect threatened to unilaterally impose massive levies of 25 per cent on imports to the US from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office. During the election campaign, he announced plans to introduce 20 per cent tariffs on all imports to the US, with the levy rising to 60 per cent for Chinese imports.