Minister Cornered Over Labour's 'Weak' Response To Trump Tariff Chaos

Presenters repeatedly questioned the government’s “weak” response to Donald Trump’stariff chaos this morning.

The US president slapped sweeping levies on foreign goods going into the States last week.

The UK received the “base rate” of 10% on all its exports heading to America, on top of the global 25% levy the president has already put on cars and steel products.

The fallout is continuing to rock the global economy this week as markets adjust to the change.

The index of Britain’s top 100 companies, the FTSE, dropped sharply this morning after Trump confirmed he would not back down over his drastic tariffs. 

So far, Labour has promised to keep “cool heads” with no “knee-jerk” reciprocal taxes on US goods, in a bid to avoid a trade war.

The government is hoping to get an economic trade deal over the line with Trump soon with British exemptions from the tariffs, but that is yet to be secured.

Instead it has announced today a series of measures to boost the British car industry with a focus on electric vehicles.

So on ITV’sGood Morning Britain, presenter Ranvir Singh put it to transport secretary Heidi Alexander that the government’s response looked “weak”.

She pointed out that the Liberal Democrats’ leader Ed Davey has called for Labour to “go harder”, and said many people think, “if you’re going to face up to what many people are calling ‘bullying tactics’, then you need to be aligning a bit more with the EU, being a bit stronger”.

Singh added: “At the moment, our response looks weak, doesn’t it?”

But Alexander replied: “Standing up for British industry is about finding solutions and an escalating trade war where tariffs are ratcheting up is in nobody’s best interest because that is bad for global demand, it’s bad for prices and it is bad for consumers.”

She added: “We are working through negotiations with counterparts in the US on a wider economic trade deal.

“This is about being cool-headed and pragmatic so we can get the very best deal for British industries and protect British consumers.”

Similarly on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, host Nick Robinson suggests the government could rescind its invitation for Trump to come for a second state visit.

Robinson said: “Everyone understands why the prime minister wants to talk soft to Donald Trump, he wants to get a decent deal, he wants to be heard.

“Is it time, though, to say, ‘forget some state visit to Britain if you are crashing the global economy, forget it, you can’t come’?”

Alexander dodged the question and repeated the answer she gave on Good Morning Britain. She said: “Standing up for British industry is about finding solutions and as I said a constantly escalating trade war is in nobody’s interest.”

Robinson also asked if the government needed to do something “rather more dramatic given the situation we are now facing”.

He noted the changes to the car industry the government is announcing today were “pre-planned”, and have just been brought forward in the wake of the tariff news.

Alexander said car manufacturers have been “thrown into the air” by the tariff changes, and this “government will leave no stone unturned in protecting the British industries”.