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Great Britain establishes emergency plans for possible reprisals if Donald Trump decides to target his exports with prices, even if the American president suggested that he could save the United Kingdom.
Trump told journalists: “The United Kingdom is far from the line and we will see. But the European Union is really out of line. »»
He added: “The United Kingdom is offline, but I’m sure that one, I think we can be developed. But the European Union is an atrocity what they did. »»
The government of Sir Keir Starmer has carried out scenarios planning for possible reprisals in the event of Trump targeting British exports, according to officials informed of emergency plans.
“We are prepared,” said a British official. “We are impatient to work in close collaboration with President Trump, but the ministers will always do what is best in the national interest.”
The comments occurred while the risk of an immediate world trade war began to retreat on Monday afternoon when the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said that she and Trump had agreed to postpone the American rates for a month. Trump had also targeted Canada and China with heavy prices.
“The management taken by the United States this weekend has confused most of the analysts,” said another British official. “Being an open economy is the big argument for the sale of Great Britain, but there is a very high degree of uncertainty. You can’t exclude anything.
Downing Street left the possibility of reprisals in Tit-For-Tat on Monday if Great Britain is targeted by Trump but refused to discuss “hypothetical situations”.
“We want to rely on the existing British trade relationship,” said a Downing Street spokesperson. “The Prime Minister has established a very constructive relationship with President Trump.”
For his part, Trump said: “Prime Minister Starmer was very nice. We had some meetings, we had many phone calls, we hear ourselves very well. “”
Downing Street said that Great Britain and the United States had “a fair and balanced commercial relationship that benefits both sides of the Atlantic”, but the ministers fear that this is not enough to protect the United Kingdom against prices.
The British treasure wants to maintain reprisals at least and Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, told Financial Times last year: “The increase in goods or food for your voters is not attractive.”
Sam Lowe, a trade specialist at Flint Global, said that the problem of reprisals was that it was in fact quite difficult to inflict economic pain in the United States and that it would inevitably be considered completely provocative “.
However, he said that the United Kingdom had “a long list of prices on the shelf” of a previous commercial dispute with the United States – on aluminum and steel – which it could dust if the ministers decided to retaliate.
They included rates for specific “red states” industries that form Trump’s political heart: previous targets have included jeans and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
LOWE believes that ministers are more likely to try to divert American rates in the first place and says they studied the way Japan treated with Trump in his first mandate: “Keep your head down and do it not.”
He said that the United Kingdom could offer to buy more American products – such as gas or defense equipment – or take a more difficult position with China, a policy that Starmer is impatient to avoid. “The other is just to be really nice with Trump,” added Lowe. “Unroll the king.”
Duncan Edwards, Director General of the British Commercial Affairs organization, said: “My opinion is that the United Kingdom should not fight back, but politically, it may be almost impossible not to do so.”
David Hénig, a former government trade official, said that a traditional EU target in any transatlantic commercial dispute was Bourbon whiskey, but that Scottish whiskey manufacturers would like to avoid the reprisals that affected a market ‘key export.
Sir Ed Davey, a liberal democratic chief, said that Starmer should convene a summit of Commonwealth leaders to show his support in Canada, which, with Mexico, has so far brought the weight of Trump’s prices.
Meanwhile, Starmer went to Brussels on Monday for interviews with EU leaders, aware that his attempt to “reset” relations with the risks of Antagonizing Trump.
His trip to an informal meeting of the European Council – The first meeting of this type involving a British Prime Minister from Brexit – focuses on security and defense cooperation.
Starmer wants to improve trade relations with the EU and also seek to deepen commercial cooperation with the United States, especially in the field of services and technology.
According to American figures, America made a global trade surplus with the United Kingdom in 2023, or 14.5 billion dollars. This puts Great Britain in a favorable position because Trump threatens countries with significant deficits.