Sir Sadiq Khan has reassured Londoners that the capital’s economy will “not be affected too much” by Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on British goods.
The Mayor of London said he "fully" supports Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's efforts to secure a trade deal rather than slapping retaliatory measures on the United States.
His comments came as global stock markets slid further in response to the Republican president’s tariffs of at least 10% on almost all exporters to the US, for what he said was payback for unfair trade policies.
London's FTSE 100 hit its lowest level since January, dropping by 0.68% to 8,416.71 in early trading.
Although the UK faces a lower tariff than many other countries, analysts said it could lead to higher prices and slower growth across the world.
But Sir Sadiq, who recently rolled back on previous criticism of Mr Trump in which he called the president a ‘poster boy for racists’ and campaigned for his 2019 state visit to be revoked, said London’s £500 billion economy will "not be affected too much" by the tariffs.
He said: "In one way, because our economy, to a large extent, is a service economy, we're not affected too much by tariffs, but we are affected.
"We can't pretend they're not going to have an impact on our economy and the national economy.
"Generally speaking, tariffs are bad. You know, trade wars are bad.
“That's why I fully support the Prime Minister and him working his socks off to try to get a trade deal with the US."
Asked if he would support banding together with EU countries to retaliate, he said: "I think the problem with, you know, kneejerk retaliation before you've got a trade deal is you're in danger of, you know, cutting off your nose to spite your face. Let's wait and see if we get a trade deal."
Despite turmoil, Mr Trump claimed his tariffs roll-out was “going well” and “the markets are going to boom".
As well as insisting the markets would recover, Mr Trump claimed Sir Keir Starmer was “very happy” with the 10% tariffs, the lowest baseline category.
However, in a hardening of Britain’s position, No 10 set a May 1 deadline for a consultation on imposing tit-for-tat tariffs and released a list of US products, such as cattle, that could be slapped with import taxes in retaliation against Mr Trump.
Sir Keir acknowledged Mr Trump’s tariffs on the UK will have an “economic impact,” amid fears of thousands of job losses.
Speaking to business chiefs in Downing Street, the PM stressed that the Government would “fight” to strike a trade deal with Washington.
