There is “no country better placed than the UK” to strike a deal with Donald Trump to lift tariffs and dodge a damaging tit-for-tat trade war with the US, the business secretary has said.
With the US president’s so-called Liberation Day looming, Jonathan Reynolds confirmed he expects Britain to be hit with tariffs alongside every other country in the world.
But, hinting that the UK could negotiate a carve-out from the import taxes within weeks, he said “if the US can reach an agreement with anyone, I believe it can with the UK”.
Mr Reynolds told Times Radio: “I believe from where we are at the minute, the President wants this liberation day tomorrow to apply to every country in the world and there'll be no exemptions on that first day towards that.
“If any country is able to reach an agreement with the US, I don't believe there's a country better placed than the UK because of the work that we have been doing.”
It comes a day after Downing Street warned businesses and consumers to brace for the impact of Mr Trump’s tariffs, which the president hopes will protect US firms from being undercut by overseas rivals.
Mr Trump has already announced a 25 per cent duty will be introduced on all cars imported to the US, in what will be a major blow to the UK’s automotive industry.
While stressing the positive nature of Britain’s engagement with the US on a trade deal so far, Mr Reynolds refused to rule out retaliatory tariffs on American imports to the UK if a deal can not be reached.
“The longer we don’t have a potential resolution to that, the more we will have to consider our own position in relation to that,” Mr Reynolds told Sky News. Asked whether he was warning of retaliatory tariffs, Mr Reynolds stressed that “we have to keep all options on the table… I have to take the steps that would give me the measures I need if I do need to take that action”.
The business secretary, who has been at the heart of trade talks with Mr Trump’s administration, also denied a report that concerns over free speech in the UK were responsible for the lack of an agreement.
The US State Department on Sunday wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that it has “concerns about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom” because of the case of anti-abortion activist Livia Tossici-Bolt, who was prosecuted for holding a sign near a Bournemouth abortion reading: “Here to talk if you want to.”
A source familiar with trade negotiations told The Daily Telegraph there should be “no free trade without free speech”.
But, asked about the claim, Mr Reynolds said: “No, I can say as someone who is very closely part of the issues that are currently being discussed, obviously there are things from different people in the administration that they've said in the past about this, but it's not been part of the trade negotiations that I've been part of."
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