Starmer says UK has ‘range of levers’ as he promises to respond to Trump tariffs with ‘cool and calm heads’ – UK politics live | Politics




Good morning. Today we are getting the considered UK government response to the colossal announcement from President Trump last night about global tariffs that could reset the way the world economy works. Rather, we are getting the considered initial response. Keir Starmer has ruled out immediate retaliation, and he promises to keep a “cool head” as he decides how to respond “in the coming days and weeks’.

Here is Pippa Crerar’s overnight story about the Trump announcement.

This morning Starmer has issued a response in comments to business leaders in Downing Street. Here are the main points.

I want to be crystal clear – we are prepared.

Indeed, one of the great strengths of this nation is our ability to keep a cool head.

I said that in my first speech as prime minister and that is how I govern.

That is how we have planned and that is exactly what is required today …

That is how we have acted – and how we will continue to act. With pragmatism. Cool and calm heads.

We move now to the next phase of our plan …

We have a range of levers at our disposal, and we will continue our work with businesses across the country to understand their assessment of these options.

As I say – our intention remains to secure a deal.

But nothing is off the table.

Ministers hope that an economic deal with the US could lead to tariffs being reduced or removed.

Negotiations on an economic prosperity deal, one that strengthens our existing trading relationship – they continue, and we will fight for the best deal for Britain.

Nonetheless, I do want to be clear I will only strike a deal if it is in the national interest and if it is the right thing to do for the security of working people.

Last night, the President of the United States, acted for his country. That is his mandate.

Today, I will act in Britain’s interests, with mine …

Decisions we take in the coming days and weeks, will be guided only by our national interest. In the interest of our economy. In the interests of the businesses around this table.

In the interests of putting money in the pockets of working people. Nothing else will guide me. That is my focus.

These passages seem to have been included to rebut claims that Starmer has been too accommodating to Trump. Starmer normally argues that the US and the UK are very close allies, implying their interests are aligned. This is a rare acknowdgement from Starmer that Trump’s actions have changed that.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

11.30am: Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner launch Labour’s local elections campaign at an event in the East Midlands.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Around 11.30am: Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, makes a statement to MPs about the Trump tariffs.

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In his comments this morning Keir Starmer did not try to claim that having US tariffs at 10%, the lowest rate available, and half the 20% rate imposed on the EU, was a great achievement for the UK government. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, did not deploy that argument either when he was interviewed on the Today programme.

According to Andrew McDonald and Bethany Dawson in the London Playbook briefing for Politico, there is a tiny bit more self-congratulation in government in private. They write:

Chin up! Whitehall officials were still trying to work out the details and small print from the U.S. late last night, but those Playbook spoke to believed that things could have been much, much worse – at least for the U.K.

Hence … the early efforts from No. 10 to push the narrative that Starmer’s efforts to charm the president paid off. “We don’t want any tariffs at all, but a lower levy than others vindicates our approach­,” a Downing Street source told Playbook (and large parts of the Lobby). “The difference between 10 and 20 per cent is thousands of jobs. We will keep negotiating, keep cool and keep calm. We want to negotiate a sustainable trade deal, and of course to get tariffs lowered … we will continue with that work.”

But McDonald and Dawson also explain why ministers won’t be arguing in public that 10% is a negotiating triumph.

Now that’s a line: “Even the Taliban got a better deal than Starmer,” an SNP official, of all people, griped to Playbook last night as it was revealed Afghanistan is also in the 10 percent club despite “charging” the U.S. more in tariffs than the U.K. … err, if you include “currency manipulation,” “compliance hurdles” and all the rest, according to Trump’s highly suspect sandwich board figures.

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Posted: 2025-04-03 09:27:01

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