Peter Kyle: Tariff tension could delay UK-US trade talks
Donald Trump’s threat to unleash another round of tariffs on UK goods could delay work on the UK-US trade deal’s final stages, according to business secretary Peter Kyle, who branded the latest tensions “lose-lose” for Britain and America’s economies.
The minister for business and trade warned the White House’s move to charge a 10 per cent duty on UK and European exports after their resistance to his plans to annex Greenland will take up “a lot of energy” in his department.
In May, the UK became the first major economy to ink a bilateral trade deal with the Trump administration in the wake of the President’s sweeping ‘liberation day’ tariff announcement.
The deal was partially ratified in June, but elements of the text, including disagreements over digital services and agriculture, remain in limbo.
“One of the challenges – when we have to then really focus on a new threat, on a new tariff announcement – means that it of course is going to take up… a lot of energy in my team, and of course in theirs [the US administration] as well,” Kyle told CityAM in an interview at the headquarters of Octopus Energy spin-off, Kraken.
Tariffs are ‘lose-lose’, Peter Kyle warns
Tensions over Trump’s desire to take control of Greenland escalated dramatically over the weekend, with the White House tariff threat roundly rebuked by European and Nato leaders. The European Union has promised a “firm” response to any new trade barriers, and is said to be preparing a €93bn (£80bn) package of retaliatory measures.
Keir Starmer branded America’s tariff threats “completely wrong” during a call with the President. But he has ruled out following the EU’s approach of introducing a punitive set of measures on Monday, and urged allies to engage in “calm discussion” to avoid an all-out trade war.
Peter Kyle echoed Starmer’s aversion to getting into a tit-for-tat approach of measure and counter-measure, branding tariffs “lose-lose” for every country involved and urging businesses to trust the Prime Minister to deliver another carve out.
“Every business I spoke to [over the weekend] recognises what we achieved before,” he said, “and is hoping that that same approach can be applied and the same successes can be delivered at this time.”
He added: “Tariffs are a lose, lose, and the first port of call of the loss is businesses. Then it filters down into the economy, then it filters down into people’s the money in people’s pockets, the opportunities that people have to do things, to spend on their kids, to have fun in life.”
The final stages of the UK-US trade talks have calcified a splintering of positions between Washington and Westminster. The White House has pulled out of the Tech Prosperity Deal signed during Trump’s state visit to Britain to ratchet up pressure on UK negotiators.
According to Politico, US officials are also pushing for Whitehall to accept American standards on food and manufacturing, in a move that could threaten Starmer’s push for the UK to forge closer relations with Europe.