UK ‘will think carefully’ on retaliating if hit by Trump tariffs, business minister tells FT

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(Reuters) -Britain will think very carefully about retaliating if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration hits the country with fresh tariffs, the country’s business and trade minister Jonathan Reynolds told the FT in an interview published on Friday.

Trump has floated blanket tariffs of 10% 20% on virtually all imports when he returns to the White House in January, and has already pledged big tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

“In this country, there’s no political constituency for protectionism,” Reynolds told the FT.

The minister said that Britain could consider retaliatory measures in some cases, but warned that “increasing costs of goods or food for your constituents is not attractive.”

Reynolds said he hoped that Britain would not be directly targeted by Trump, and that the country’s balanced trade with the U.S. should reduce the risk of fresh tariffs, the report added.

He also played down the prospects of a traditional free trade agreement between the two countries, adding that Britain’s food standards would be “an obstacle.”

British finance minister Rachel Reeves said last month she would make “strong representations” over the importance of free trade to Trump’s incoming administration.

Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene said said on Thursday that it was still not clear whether higher U.S. tariffs on goods imports proposed by Trump would raise or lower British inflation.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Varun H K)