The UK must "rise together as a nation" in response to global instability in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs, the Prime Minister has said.
We are in a “completely new world, an era where old assumptions, which we've long taken for granted simply don't apply any longer”, Sir Keir Starmer said.
Speaking at a Jaguar Land Rover plant in the West Midlands he acknowledged that tariffs imposed by the US President last week are a "huge challenge".
"But this moment has also made something very clear - that this is not a passing phase,” he said.
“Just as we have seen with our national security and defence, particularly over recent months in relation to the war in Ukraine, now with our commerce and trade, this is a changing and completely new world."
He added: "Let me be really clear, at a moment like this, our future is in our hands, and so of course, we will keep calm and fight for the best deal with the US, and we've been discussing that intensely over the last few days.
"But we are also going to work with our key partners to reduce barriers to trade across the globe, to accelerate trade deals with the rest of the world, and champion the cause of free and open trade right across the globe."
Sir Keir called for "cool heads" as global markets plunged in response to Mr Trump's sweeping tariffs. The UK was slapped with 10% import duty.
The value of US stocks dropped sharply as markets opened on Monday afternoon, following falls in London and across Europe and Asia earlier.
The US's S&P 500 shot down by as much as 4% when markets opened on Monday, before swinging sharply higher, peaking at about 2%, not long after.
The index then swung back into the red with the value sliding by about 1%. The movements were reverberating across European markets - with the UK's FTSE 100 briefly seeing losses ease, before sharpening again in line with the US's benchmark index.
"These are challenging times,” Sir Keir said.
“But we have chosen to come here because we are going to back you to the hilt."
He added that the visit to the Jaguar Land Rover plant was a "statement of intent", showing the Government's support.
The PM added: This is a moment for cool heads, nobody wins from a trade war, you know that.
"But it's also a moment for urgency, because we've got to rise together as a nation to the great challenge of our age - and it is the great challenge - which is to renew Britain so we're secure in this era of global instability."
