LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government will not rush into action to counter any import tariffs announced later on Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump because it does not want to risk undermining a possible trade deal with Washington, finance minister Rachel Reeves said. “The government has been really clear that we are going to approach […]
Business
UK won’t jeopardise US trade talks with rushed tariff response, Reeves says
Audio By Carbonatix
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government will not rush into action to counter any import tariffs announced later on Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump because it does not want to risk undermining a possible trade deal with Washington, finance minister Rachel Reeves said.
“The government has been really clear that we are going to approach this in a clear-headed way and always represent the national interest,” Reeves told lawmakers in parliament.
“It’s why myself and the business and trade secretary met with big UK exporters this morning. They don’t want government to rush into any response because the prize on offer is an economic agreement. We don’t want to do anything that undermines that. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
Reeves said London would see how other countries respond to Trump’s expected announcement of tariffs before deciding on any retaliatory moves.
(Reporting by David Milliken, Suban Abdulla and Ben Ezeamalu; Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)