US tariffs could adversely affect the supply of medicines to the UK, the health secretary has said.
Donald Trump announced a wide range of “reciprocal” tariffs on goods imported into the US, including a 10% levy on the UK as well as 20% on the EU, 34% on China and 46% on Vietnam.
It triggered a rout on stock markets worldwide, with plunges not seen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, wiping out trillions of dollars in value.
Wes Streeting told Sky News that the chaos caused by the fears of a global trade war could disrupt supplies of medicine.
“As ever in terms of medicines, there’s a number of factors at play,” he said. “There have been challenges in terms of manufacturing, challenges in terms of distribution, and if we start to see tariffs kicking in, that’s another layer of challenge, but we watch this situation extremely closely.”
He added: “We are constantly watching and acting on this situation to try and get medicines into the country, to make sure we’ve got availability, to show some flexibility in terms of how medicines are dispensed, to deal with shortages.
“But whether it’s medicines, whether it’s parts for manufacturing, whether it’s … the ability of businesses in this country to turn a profit, this is an extremely turbulent situation.”
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Streeting said patient data was “not for sale” as part of any trade negotiations with the US designed to mitigate the impact of the tariffs.
“The NHS is not for sale and our patients’ data is not for sale,” Streeting said.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the US president’s approach to tariffs was in response to the “downsides to globalisation”, in particular the deindustrialisation felt by some communities in advanced economies.
But he added that even at the “best end of the tariff regime” the levies imposed on the UK were still “harmful to British interests”.
London’s FTSE 100 rose in early trading on Tuesday after several days of heavy losses. The index, which tracks the UK’s top 100 listed companies, was up more than 1% shortly after markets opened.
It followed a more positive session for Asian markets, with some indexes making gains, as well as expectations that US markets should open higher later.
