Building bridges with Trump helped keep levy low, say insiders

Emerging into the spring sun from gate 17 at Volkswagen's main factory in Wolfsburg at the end of his shift on Thursday afternoon, Carsten, 63, pulled heavily on a cigarette and shook his head when asked about Donald Trump's tariffs.

- Pippa Crerar Eleni Courea

When Jonathan Reynolds gathered with officials around a large screen in his office to watch Donald Trump unleash his global trade war, he knew little more than anyone else about what was to come.

It was Wednesday night and the US president was about to upend a century of global trade with the imposition of huge import taxes.

Moments before Trump sauntered on stage, Reynolds had been told to expect a universal baseline tariff of 10% - but what he did not know was whether anything else would be imposed on top. The expectation in the government was that Britain would be hit with a 20% rate, which the Treasury watchdog had warned could wipe 1% off GDP.

As Trump unveiled his sandwich board of global tariffs, Reynolds and his team shared the frustration of many viewers around the world - the board kept slipping behind the White House lectern and obscuring the all-important figures next to countries' names.

Quickly it became clear that the UK rate was 10%, lower than 20% for the EU - but the same baseline as the US had imposed on countries including Brazil and Afghanistan.

Within minutes, Downing Street described this as a "vindication" of Keir Starmer's approach. "When we heard it was a flat 10% there was some relief because it could have been so much worse," one source said. "It also meant that they were true to their word about where we stood. That trust will be really important going forward".

No 10 has been accused of "sucking up" to Trump and getting little in return. But government sources argue the tariff regime could have been substantially more damaging if they had not worked to develop good relations and put forward their own arguments.