The list of US products which could be hit with tariffs if the UK decides to retaliate include whiskey, motorcycles and jeans, as ITV News Business and Economics Editor Joel Hills reports
The UK government is considering “possible retaliatory action” against the US after Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on British imports, the business secretary confirmed.
Jonathan Reynolds told MPs in the House of Commons he was launching a four-week request for businesses to have their input on what retaliation might look like, based around a list of US products that could be hit.
“To enable the UK to have every option open to us in future, I am today launching a request for input on the implications for British businesses of possible retaliatory action”, he told the Commons.
“We will seek the views of UK stakeholders over four weeks until May 1, 2025, on products that could potentially be included in any UK tariff response.
“This exercise will also give businesses the chance to have their say and influence the design of any possible UK action”, he said.
The government says that if an economic deal is agreed prior to the end of the consultation, then it will be paused and “any measures flowing” from it will be lifted.
On Wednesday night, Trump placed new levies on countries across the world, including 10% on all British imports into the US. That’s on top of previously announced tariffs on cars and steel.
The list of US products which could be hit with tariffs if the UK decides to retaliate include whiskey, motorcycles and jeans.
The list, published by the government on Thursday afternoon, is over 400 pages long.
The consultation said: “We want to know what you think about the impacts that any future UK tariffs might have, if applied on US goods, in response to the US government’s recent tariff announcements.
“The information gathered will help the government to assess the scope and impacts of any UK tariff measures that could be applied.”
On Thursday morning, Sir Keir Starmer told business leaders that “clearly there will be an economic impact” from the tariffs, but insisted the government will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
Starmer told business chiefs in Downing Street that the US president “acted for his country, and that is his mandate.
“Today, I will act in Britain’s interests with mine.”
He said the UK was “prepared” and that “one of the great strengths of this nation is our ability to keep a cool head”.
Reynolds told ITV News earlier on Thursday that he was “disappointed”, but insisted he will continue seeking to reverse the tariffs on the UK through an economic deal.
“I want those tariffs removed, but I also want our trading relationship to be even better than it was when we began… I want to make it easier for British businesses to trade with the US”, he said.
While he said he was “pleased in the sense that no-one is in a better position than the UK”, Reynolds told ITV News, “I’m not satisfied – this is not job done”.
Downing Street had suggested they had been vindicated in their approach to negotiating with the US in the hope of securing an exemption. The 10% tax facing UK goods is half that facing the EU.
But many have argued that the 10% tariff on the UK is down to the calculations the US government did on the trade balance between the two countries, rather than any diplomacy.
Asked by ITV News Political Correspondent Harry Horton if the UK government was being “played” by Trump, Starmer insisted it is not.
Speaking at the launch of Labour’s local election campaign, Starmer told ITV News: “I know others are saying ‘why don’t you go straight into a trade war from day one?’ I don’t think that would be in our national interests”.
In a speech from the White House rose garden, Trump confirmed that from midnight in Washington, 5am Thursday in the UK, a 25% tariff would be imposed on all foreign cars imported to the US – a move which experts fear could cost 25,000 jobs in the British car industry.
He also indicated tariffs of 10% would apply to other products from the UK – the same level as the global “baseline” he was setting for countries around the world as part of his “reciprocal” measures from 5am on Saturday.
Trump’s tariffs have hit global financial markets, with stocks falling sharply. London’s FTSE 100 Index dropped fell 122.4 points or 1.4% to 8486.09 in the first few minutes of trading on Thursday.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “President Trump’s tariffs will not make the US wealthier but they will make all of us poorer”.
In a post on X, she wrote: “Leaving the EU has left us in a stronger position on trade. We now have an independent trade policy but this only works if it is used properly by people who know that they’re doing”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey suggested the situation calls for closer collaboration with Europe.
Accusing Trump of kicking off a “destructive trade war”, Davey said: “The Prime Minister should bring our Commonwealth and European partners together in a coalition of the willing against Trump’s tariffs, using retaliatory tariffs where necessary and signing new trade deals with each other where possible.”
Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.
The business chiefs Starmer addressed included AstraZeneca’s Pascal Soriot, BAE’s Charles Woodburn and Jaguar Land Rover’s Richard Molyneux.
He said that as the government moved “to the next stage of our plan”, the “decisions we take in coming days and weeks will be guided only by our national interest, in the interests of our economy, in the interests of businesses around this table”.
“Clearly, there will be an economic impact from the decisions the US has taken, both here and globally.
“But I want to be crystal clear: we are prepared, indeed one of the great strengths of this nation is our ability to keep a cool head.”
He said he would “fight” to secure a deal with the US in the hope of mitigating the impact of the tariffs and that “nobody wins in a trade war”.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
