UK politics latest: Starmer and Trump hold ‘productive’ call, but Britain still ‘expects US tariffs this week’

The UK will be hit by US tariffs this week despite a “productive” phone call between Sir Keir Starmer and president Donald Trump over a trade deal, officials reportedly fear. British representatives are racing to avoid Mr Trump’s self-styled “Liberation Day” on Wednesday, which will see high tariffs slapped on imported goods from around the world. They hope to secure a “UK-US economic prosperity deal” which will exempt British goods from tariffs on imports into America.

But officials fear they will not have agreed a deal by this date, and hope to renegotiate the tariffs in the future, according to The Guardian . On Sunday, Sir Keir spoke with the US president in what Downing Street described as part of “productive negotiations” towards a deal, agreeing to “stay in touch in the coming days”. Mr Trump announced a 25 per cent import tax on all cars imported to the US, a measure expected to hit British luxury car makers such as Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin.



The levy would be on top of a series of tariffs set to come into effect on 2 April, which could include a general 20 per cent tax on UK products in response to the rate of VAT ..