Will Trump’s trade war push up prices and cost jobs in the UK?

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There are concerns that Trump’s trade policies could hit UK industries like car manufacturing, steel, and whisky, leading to job losses and higher costs. Analysts warn tariffs could make British exports less competitive, adding to economic uncertainty.

Transcript

00:00What you've got to remember about tariffs, which of course is the base of what trade

00:04wars are, are sort of levied on the goods coming into your country. What you try and

00:08do is to sort of to make them sort of higher, to sort of give your sort of domestic producers

00:13a sort of, if you like, a head start of sorts. Now, of course, the difficulty with that is

00:17your domestic suppliers may not have the sort of production facilities. And indeed, if we're

00:22talking about China, for instance, where the sort of the wage rates are sort of much lower,

00:27if we produce the same goods in our own country, of course, they sort of commensurate go up,

00:31which of course, you know, means the supply has to go up. So whatever happens, it does

00:36mean that there's going to be a sort of a price increase, because the tariffs are not

00:39sort of laid or put onto sort of the producers in the overseas country. It's when they sort

00:46of come into the country by the sort of seller. So in the sense, as I say, it's a way, if

00:51you like, of manipulating the market. So my sort of prediction is that sort of inflation

00:55will go up in all countries that sort of engage in this game. Because, of course, you

01:00know, if you impose tariffs on one country, they're going to do exactly the same to you.

01:07So this idea, it's going to sort of create a sort of balance. Well, there will be a lot

01:10of sort of pain in the process of so doing.

01:13So just how important is the UK's relationship with the United States? Well, currently, the

01:19UK exports approximately £60 billion in goods to the US, making it Britain's largest

01:25export market. The US, in turn, exports around £58 billion in goods to the UK, with key

01:32sectors including machinery, vehicles and pharmaceuticals. This robust exchange underscores

01:40the significance of the transatlantic trade relationship in supporting jobs and businesses

01:47across both nations.

01:50The fact is, though, so what Trump says one day, what may happen the next day or even

01:54the sort of next hour, given the sort of the increasingly erratic way that this man

01:59is operating, you just do not know. So who knows? I mean, we may sort of, as a consequence

02:05of the so-called special relationship, benefit from sort of a preferential sort of treatment.

02:11But the way things are going, I wouldn't sort of put too much sort of stock in that. So

02:14I think the sort of, you know, there is a storm economic coming. But, of course, economic

02:19wars have a habit, if you like, of lurching into sort of something even far more serious.

02:23I have to say, if I was to meet Trump and he told me the sky was blue, I would go and

02:28have a look outside.

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