After the Trump administration first imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on the EU in 2018, when Britain was still an EU member, Brussels retaliated with tariffs on everything from Harley Davidson motorcycles to Levi’s jeans and bourbon.
But businesses on both sides of the Atlantic fear retaliation, said Duncan Edwards, CEO of BritishAmerican Business, a transatlantic business group. “I think even if one side imposes (tariffs), the other side should not,” he said. Retaliation would punish British consumers by “making things more expensive than they would otherwise be”.
Nonetheless, Aline Doussin, a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells and head of the international trade team in London, said: “British exporters will feel Trump’s move immediately.” “The UK Government must work with stakeholders in the UK to prepare for all possible scenarios.”
For now, Doussin said, there are “no firm plans” that businesses and the public have heard from the government on how they will respond. But British retaliation could make the situation worse, she added.
“We have seen some degree of trade expansion in the context of the previous (Trump) administration,” she said, warning that “markets agree that most everyone loses from increased tariff increases.”
