US president Donald Trump has concerned UK Government ministers after announcing flat 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, regardless of their origin.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” Trump told reporters on Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl.
When asked about aluminium, he responded that it too will be subject to the trade penalties.
Trump also reaffirmed that he would announce “reciprocal tariffs” – “probably Tuesday or Wednesday” – meaning that the US would impose import duties on products in cases where another country has levied duties on US goods.
“If they are charging us 130% and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way,” he told reporters.
Asked on Monday morning about Trump’s comments, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said the Labour Government will have to “wait and see whether the president gets more specific about what he meant by that comment”.
She said: “We have a very balanced trading relationship with the US – I think £300 billion worth of trade between our countries – and I think it’s in the best interests of both of us, as long-standing allies and neighbours, that we carry on with that balanced trade.”
UK officials are understood to be seeking further details regarding Trump’s comments.
The UK has so far avoided being hit with tariffs, while Trump has imposed, but then delayed, duties on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as 10% levies on goods from China.
The president has previously suggested a deal could be done to exempt the UK from tariffs, while claiming Britain is “out of line” in its trading relationship with the US.
She said she had seen “no corroboration that that is likely to happen” when challenged over reports such a move was being considered as a way of placating the “tech bros” that surround Trump.
According to reports, the arrangement could see amendments to the Online Safety Act, which can currently levy significant fines on US social media companies if they fail to take down harmful content, offered in exchange for a favourable deal on tariffs.
But Eagle poured cold water on the suggestion during an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday morning, saying she “can’t imagine that we would be in a situation where we would want to see a weakening rather than a strengthening of safeguards in that area”.
While she acknowledged that “tech bros in America” had become “very close” to the new Trump administration, Eagle added: “I wouldn’t have thought there would be any justification whatsoever for keeping violent videos available across the globe.”
Tech company bosses such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos attended Trump’s inauguration last month, while Twitter/X owner Elon Musk is a senior adviser to the president.
Eagle’s comments came in response to questions about the UK Government’s response to the murder of three young girls in Southport last year by a teenager who had watched violent videos online.
They also follow decisions by major social media companies to water down or abandon their content moderation systems that deal with harmful material, in some cases meaning videos viewed by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana are still available.
Those decisions appear to have been made in order to bring those companies into line with the laissez-faire approach of the US administration, typified by Musk, an outspoken critic of both the UK and the Online Safety Act.
But a more lax approach to moderation also means those companies could run afoul of the Online Safety Act when it comes into force at the end of March, requiring social media platforms to remove illegal content and protect children from harmful or age-inappropriate material.
Companies that fail to comply with the act face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a company’s global revenue, whichever is greater, even if they are based abroad.
