Now Trump is targeting the U.K. with tarriffs how should Sir Keir handle a response?

FriedGreenTomatoes2

‘Liberation’ from Biden and the Democrats springs to mind. He’s doing things differently which is why voters made him POTUS I suppose. They’d had enough of being lied to ‘Biden's health is not a concern’ etc.

What does that have to do with tariffs?

NotSpaghetti

To give you a clear picture of the UK's trade percentage with
* In 2023, the EU accounted for:
* 42% of all UK exports.
* 52% of all UK imports.

In the same year our exports to America were 15.3% (imports 10%)

^Info from ONS^

More important is the UK's trade surplus in services with the US.

"In 2023, the UK imported £57.4 billion of services from the United States (19.5% of all services imports) and exported £126.3 billion of services (27.0% of all services exports).

Other business services was the main service type traded with the United States, with £29.7 billion imported and £56.9 billion exported.

Exports of business and management consulting and public relations services was the main service export to the United States, with £22.9 billion exported in 2023 accounting for over half (54.8%) of all UK exports of this service type.

In 2023, the United States was the UK's largest import and export partner for services and was the UK's largest export partner and second largest import partner for goods."

Also from the ONS www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/articles/uktradewiththeunitedstates2023/2023

It's not to do with "Liberation" from Biden in particular tho, is it.

It's a whole ideology of

firstly where the USA stand in relationship to the world, that is, a change from co-operation, membership of organisations like WHO, concerns for the climate, concerns for developing/poor countries, willingness to take refugees

and secondly an ideology that follows far right doctrine on social and welfare concerns, "small" government (whatever the consequences) and willing to overturn democracy to do so. ie elements of Project 25 and trying to manipulate Europe to the right.

Supporters of this doctrine are always going to put forward or back pro-Trump arguments including in this case on tariffs whether they are logical or not. It's a whole package. "Liberation" means, in the context of ideology, far more than trade relations.

* growstuff* But were the UK exports in your post on Thu 03-Apr-25 13:43:06 listed under the separate countries in the EU, or under the total for the EU?

Since the USA is a great deal larger and richer than any one country within the EU, surely exports to the EU, which is a combined trading unit, should also be represented by a total figure and a total percentage of the whole, rather than only a lot of smaller figures and percentages, under separate countries?

Elegran

* growstuff* But were the UK exports in your post on Thu 03-Apr-25 13:43:06 listed under the separate countries in the EU, or under the total for the EU?

Since the USA is a great deal larger and richer than any one country within the EU, surely exports to the EU, which is a combined trading unit, should also be represented by a total figure and a total percentage of the whole, rather than only a lot of smaller figures and percentages, under separate countries?

Yes - that is how the government looks at it.

The EU is a trading block, simply made up of a group of countries. But it is the EU with which we trade.

Elegran

* growstuff* But were the UK exports in your post on Thu 03-Apr-25 13:43:06 listed under the separate countries in the EU, or under the total for the EU?

Since the USA is a great deal larger and richer than any one country within the EU, surely exports to the EU, which is a combined trading unit, should also be represented by a total figure and a total percentage of the whole, rather than only a lot of smaller figures and percentages, under separate countries?

My understanding is that the US is the UK's biggest single country trading partner, but we trade more with the EU as a bloc.

The point I was really making was that the UK exports more in services than tangible goods.

Thank you. I was querying it because there is a general understanding that the US is our largest market, full stop, and more important , for that reason. Many people don't seem to see the EU as one market, yet the original raison d'etre of grouping together the various countries of Europe was to have a more powerful trade lever than any of them could achieve on their own. The figures show that we have twice as much trade with the EU than with the US, some of it in goods and more of it in services.

Well any harm this does to the UK will be a drop in the ocean compared to Net Zero.

But it's the perfect excuse for Reeves to blame the tariffs for our failing economy.

Well she's blamed everyone and everything else FGT.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

PoliticsNerd

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Well 10% for the UK, 20% for the EU.
Put that on the side of a bus. 😁

I can't work it out FGT, and I've no wish to offend but are you backing Trump against your own country?

I back Trump for what he’s trying to do for America.

And I’m grateful for lesser tariffs here than the EU zone. Starmer has a great opportunity here. We do more exporting to the USA than Europe I read earlier.

So what exactly is he doing for America, in your view?

MAGA!
It’ll take time to come good but I bet it will. He said he’d do this and he’s cracking on with the job voters trusted him to do.

Where did you read that, FGT? "We do more exporting to the USA than Europe I read earlier." It must have been a lot earlier, because several people have posted recently the exact opposite - we export more than twicee as much to the USA as we do to Europe.

Are you so convinced that you can still claim as a fact what has been refuted on this very page not half an hour ago, by simultaneous posts by at least three people, (and it could be more), with links to their sources? Or are you determined to make the same point again and again, in the hope that if you say it often enough it will magically become true?

I thought the only people who did that were fifth column agents, planted in the community by secret agents to spread lies and undermine the support of the public for their country, not members of a social media chat group of reasonably intelligent citizens.

No point making it a war, Lovetopaint Trump would love that, he could claim that he was being victimised again.

Retaliation is a bad reason for a financial decision.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

MAGA!
It’ll take time to come good but I bet it will. He said he’d do this and he’s cracking on with the job voters trusted him to do.

Cracking on? He's despicable. We all know the appeal though.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I don’t know Wyllow.

More voters in America went for Trump than Kamala Harris.
They knew what Trump had in mind …short term pain for long term gain. He said it often enough!

When exactly did he say this ahead of the election please?

I know it's a well understood philosophy but I can't remember him actually saying it before he was in office.

It must have been a lot earlier, because several people have posted recently the exact opposite - we export more than twicee as much to the USA as we do to Europe.

You’ve lost me Elegran you seem to be agreeing with me.
🤔

FGT the correct export figures are that we export more to the US than any other single country
We export much more to the EU as a whole.

Whether Trumps tariff policy is a success for the US we will find out in coming years, we are a long way from the end game.

Thank you David49 for your nice simple explanation. Appreciate it.

So we export more to America.
But even more to the EU bloc as a whole?

Got it now. Thanks (everyone, really).

Speculation is that Trump is ‘starting a conversation’ and will be up for individual negotiations. It’s early days obviously.

NotSpaghetti

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I don’t know Wyllow.

More voters in America went for Trump than Kamala Harris.
They knew what Trump had in mind …short term pain for long term gain. He said it often enough!

When exactly did he say this ahead of the election please?

I know it's a well understood philosophy but I can't remember him actually saying it before he was in office.

RNC, fact checked. He stated falsely and continues on with same.

www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-trumps-rnc-speech

Then-candidate Donald Trump, at a campaign rally last August as the 2024 race for the White House was heating up, made a promise to voters to quickly bring economic relief if elected.

"Starting on Day 1, we will end inflation and make America affordable again," he said at a rally in Montana, where he told supporters: "This election is about saving our economy."

A week later, he made a show of displaying cartons of eggs, bacon, milk and other grocery products outside his New Jersey golf course as he railed against the Biden administration's policies.

"When I win, I will immediately bring prices down," Trump said at the time.

abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-vowed-make-economy-day-1-now-us/story?id=119674028

Well that's not what his press secretary said this afternoon.

"Leavitt, speaking to CNN, is asked whether Trump could reconsider any of the tariffs before they go into effect on 5 April. She responds the tariffs are "not a negotiation"."

BBC.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

^It must have been a lot earlier, because several people have posted recently the exact opposite - we export more than twicee as much to the USA as we do to Europe.^

You’ve lost me Elegran you seem to be agreeing with me.
🤔

No, she's not.

The fact is (and it is a fact) that the UK exports more to the EU as a bloc than it does to the US. That's what Elegran is telling you.

Great to be British, innit?

We're sandwiched between Trump trashing us in spite of the fictional "Special Relationship" and on the other side Rachel Reeves is rubbishing the economy with her Fifth Columnist antics.

I despair.

Thanks Norah that is exactly what I thought and understood.

I didn't think to "fact check" it. Thank you.

I was wary of saying that he hadn't said it. Neither Google nor Gemini could give me a "first time used" but both offered me recent examples.

We need to protect our trade relationships with the EU - one huge thing that stands out is our need for their food and out food security - another is that it's much easier to ship/exchange car parts with nearest neighbours. We don't want to become "piggy in the middle"