Starmer dismisses claims he’s been ‘played’ by Trump, and says future trade deal could lessen impact of tariffs – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer dismisses claims he’s been ‘played’ by Trump, and says future trade deal could lessen impact of tariffs
Keir Starmer has dismissed claims that he has been “played” by President Trump over tariffs.
In an interview with Sky News this morning, echoing what Jonathan Reynolds said in his morning interview round (see 8.58am), Starmer said that a future trade deal with the US might lead to the UK getting some exemptions from the tariffs coming tomorrow. He said:
We are of course negotiating an economic deal which will, I hope … mitigate the tariffs.
Asked if he had been “played” by US President Donald Trump, Starmer replied:
The US is our closest ally. Our defence, our security, our intelligence are bound up in a way that no two other countries are.
So it’s obviously in our national interest to have a close working relationship with the US, which we’ve had for decades, and I want to ensure we have for decades to come.
He said talks on an economic deal would normally take “months or years” but “in a matter of weeks we have got well advanced in those discussions”.
Starmer also confirmed that it was likely the UK would be affected by the tariffs being announced tomorrow.
We are obviously working with the sectors most impacted at pace on that.
Nobody wants to see a trade war but I have to act in the national interests.
That means that “all options remain on the table” in response, he added.
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Rayner says it would be ‘ridiculous’ to cancel Trump’s state visit in retaliation for tariffs
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Badenoch rejects claims differing food standards might be obstacle to US trade deals, saying quotas more important
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Badenoch rejects claim she has told her MPs not to criticise Trump
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Badenoch claims Labour’s ‘jobs tax’ will cost average families £3,500 by end of this parliament
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Lib Dems call for Cobra meeting to discuss US tariffs, saying ‘we can’t kowtow to Trump any longer’
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Limited global trade war, with Britain exempt from US tariffs, could have ‘mildly positive’ impact for UK, MPs told
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OBR did not include US tariff policy in its forecasts partly because it was ‘changing every day’, its chair says
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Starmer says firms needs ‘calm’ not ‘knee-jerk’ response to US tariffs, playing down prospect of retaliatory measures
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Badenoch says Tories would oppose retaliatory tariffs against US because they would just make ‘everyone poorer’
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Starmer says he accepts cost of living crisis ‘ongoing’, despite wages going up
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OBR chair Richard Hughes gives evidence to Treasury committee
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Starmer dismisses claims he’s been ‘played’ by Trump, and says future trade deal could lessen impact of tariffs
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Badenoch says local elections will be ‘very difficult’ for Tories
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Kemi Badenoch interviewed on LBC
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Reynolds rejects claim prosecution of anti-abortion campaigners in UK could block trade deal with US
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UK in ‘best possible position’ to negotiate future exemptions from Trump tariffs, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says
At the Downing Street lobby briefing, like Angela Rayner (see 12.23pm), the PM’s spokesperson ruled out cancelling President Trump’s state visit to the UK as retaliation for his tariffs. The spokesperson claimed the two issues were not linked. He said:
I wouldn’t draw any any link between the two. Obviously, the state visit is a matter for the Palace, as you know.
You’ll have seen that the prime minister was delighted to extend His Majesty the king’s invitation for a historic state visit during his visit to to the White House.
But when it comes to these talks, we’ll obviously continue to have these conversations. We’ll obviously continue them in the national interest, and we’ll obviously provide an update as and when we have one.
In the past Keir Starmer has also claimed that the state visit is a matter for the king, not the government. While technically true in a very narrow sense (the king issues the actual invitation), this argument is thoroughly bogus, because the king only issue a state visit invitation on the advice of Downing Street. It was Starmer’s decision, not King Charles’s.
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