Tuesday, April 08, 2025
Time for UK to step up in response to Trump
The paper says that the intervention comes as the government scrambles to boost support for British businesses and negotiate a trade deal with the US that would give Britain a carve-out to avoid the sweeping tariffs, which have been slapped on all major economies:
The UK should “notch up” its threats of retaliation towards Donald Trump after he imposed 10 per cent tariffs on UK exports, a former ambassador to the US has said.
It comes as the government scrambles to boost support for British businesses and negotiate a trade deal with the US that would give Britain a carve-out to avoid the sweeping tariffs, which have been slapped on all major economies.
While the UK has said nothing is off the table when it comes to responding to the tariffs, Sir Nigel Sheinwald said the UK should have gone further, earlier with its threats.
“I think it's right that we should say we're going to think about retaliation. We might indeed have said that a little bit earlier on”, Sir Nigel told Sky News.
“I think it's always wrong to take that off the table or sound as if you don't mean it, because in the world of trade policy and trade negotiators, this is a tough world where you've got to brandish those weapons and seem as though you're prepared to use them.”
“I think the tempo and the tone need to be notched up somewhat”, he added.
Another former ambassador urged the PM to build a 'coalition of the willing' against Trump's tariffs.
Lord Ricketts told the Independent: “With the level of turbulence and unpredictability off the scale, two priorities stand out. First, move further and faster to draw closer to the EU. Second, just as with the coalition of the willing with Europeans on defence, we need a coalition of like-minded democracies to keep alive a rules-based economic order.”
I think both of these former ambassadors are spot on. Trump is playing hardball and he doesnt respect weakness. If we are going to negotiate he has to understand that we are prepared to retaliate in kind if he doesnt make concessions, otherwise he will walk all over us.
