Keir Starmer has admitted he has still not spoken to Donald Trump since the US president brought in trade tariffs, with government sources saying the UK was not given any advance warning of this week’s changes to US tariffs.
The prime minister defended his decision not to retaliate with tariffs on Thursday, after the UK did not appear to have been rewarded for holding off countermeasures.
The president’s partial reprieve bringing the base tariff rate down to 10% helped other nations that had been given higher tariffs, some of which had planned retaliation, such as the EU.
But the UK’s arrangements of a 10% general tariff, plus 25% on steel and cars, was unchanged, leaving it in the same position as most other nations apart from China.
Whitehall sources said everyone had been blindsided by Trump’s decision to pause the tariffs for all nations apart from China this week, days after the original executive order that caused market turmoil.
Starmer told reporters during a visit to Cambridgeshire: “I don’t think having a strong relationship with the US has given us no advantage whatsoever.
“We have got a very strong relationship on defence, security, intelligence sharing. No two countries are as closely aligned as ours.”
Pressed by ITV whether Trump was refusing his calls, Starmer said: “No, not at all. You have to understand with the UK and US, our teams talk all of the time … that is constantly going on. That is what you would expect of two very close allies.”
When pressed that most nations now face the same tariff rate as the UK, Starmer said: “Of course we are continuing to talk to the US about how further we can mitigate the impact of the tariffs.
“But a trade war is in nobody’s interest and there is no business sector that is being impacted by these tariffs who is saying jump in with both feet to retaliate and cause a trade war.”
While the UK is pressing for a reduction in tariffs through a trade deal, Downing Street has stressed throughout that the world has changed and the UK must also pursue other avenues for economic growth and agreements with other partners.
On a visit to Doncaster, Starmer made clear the UK could not just “sit back and hope” that the tariffs would not come into force. He said instead the government must “rise to the moment here, recognise where our future lies, renew Britain and deliver security for working people”.
Trump has joked at a Republican Party event in Washington DC that countries were “kissing my ass” to hold trade deal talks.
Asked if he was comfortable with this language, the prime minister said America was Britain’s “closest ally” and it was important to maintain a “calm and pragmatic approach” to negotiations.
There appears to be no urgency from the US in relation to completing a trade deal with the UK, with its focus on other parts of the world. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is expected to try to negotiate with the US when she visits Washington at the end of April for the International Monetary Fund’s spring meeting of global finance ministers. She also told the FT this week that a UK-EU summit on 19 May would be a chance “to refresh our relationship and make it easier for businesses to trade”.
While he has not yet spoken to Trump, Starmer did have a call with Japan’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba about maintaining a “cool, calm and pragmatic approach” in response to the tariffs and they discussed working closely together to lower trade barriers.
