Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have discussed “productive negotiations” towards a UK-US economic prosperity deal in a phone call, Downing Street said, as fears grow the UK may be landed with damaging US tariffs.
The pair agreed that negotiations will “continue at pace” in the Sunday night call, which came after home secretary Yvette Cooper warned that “no option is off the table” in terms of a British response to any US tariffs.
Downing Street is trying to negotiate an exemption from tariffs on all imports into the US, in talks which Ms Cooper described as “intense”.
Mr Trump earlier this week announced a 25 per cent import tax on all cars arriving in the US, a measure which will hit British luxury carmakers including Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin. A reciprocal set of tariffs is already set to come into effect on 2 April, which may involve a general 20 per cent tax on UK products in response to the rate of VAT.
Sir Keir has left the door open to retaliatory tariffs, promising to “act in the national interest” and “leaving everything on the table”.
Trump opened Sunday night’s phone call by wishing King Charles “good health”, a Downing Street spokesperson said, after the royal was recently hospitalised due to the side effects from his cancer treatment.
They then discussed the “productive negotiations between their respective teams on a UK-US economic prosperity deal, agreeing that these will continue at pace this week”.
But the UK government has publicly criticised the Trump administration’s widespread tariffs on countries around the world.
Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Ms Cooper said: “In the end, if you increase barriers to trade right across the world, that’s not good for the world economy, let alone any individual country as part of that.
“So that’s why our approach to this has been to try and seek new trade agreements across the world, including improving our trading relationship with the EU, as well as with the US.”
Discussions with the US over exemptions from the levy are “intense”, Ms Cooper said, adding: “We obviously can’t keep a running commentary on different discussions that are taking place, but we have to always make sure that we’re acting in the national interest.”
After Mr Trump confirmed 25 per cent tariffs on imported vehicles, a highly placed source told The Independent’s political editor David Maddox that “negotiations became much harder” for the UK.
Another source said that tariffs “look inevitable now” following the controversial move by Washington.
Sir Keir is being urged by the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) to adopt a trade plan which could unlock £250bn in economic growth and savings, even if the UK is hit with direct US tariffs.
The ICC says the plan would free up billions in investment by scrapping outdated paper-based systems.
In Sunday’s phone call between Downing Street and Washington, the two leaders also discussed the Ukraine war. Since Keir Starmer visited Washington in late February, the pair have kept in contact regarding a ceasefire deal in Ukraine.
“Discussing Ukraine, the Prime Minister updated the President on the productive discussions at the meeting of the Coalition of Willing in Paris this week. The leaders agreed on the need to keep up the collective pressure on Putin,” Downing Street said.
“They agreed to stay in touch in the coming days.”
