Labour MPs are still reeling from last week’s Spring Statement in which the Chancellor slashed welfare spending and made further cuts in a bid to calm both the markets and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Yet this week could prove even more seismic when it comes to the state of the public finances. On Wednesday, Donald Trump is expected to announce a wave of new tariffs in what the US President has billed ‘Liberation Day’. Trump is expected to reveal plans for reciprocal tariffs (aimed at addressing what he sees as an ongoing trade imbalance between the US and other countries) as he argues that it is ‘finally time for the Good Ol’ USA to get some of that MONEY, and RESPECT, BACK. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!’.
In Whitehall, there is a nervousness about what this might mean for the UK. When Trump first returned to the White House, ministers were hopeful the UK could avoid such tariffs on the grounds that Trump was more focused on those with large deficits such as the EU.
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