The big mistake Keir Starmer made with Donald Trump

Keir Starmer did almost everything right. He headed for lunch with the President, leaving the British Embassy’s Jaguars and Land Rovers in the garage. Instead, he relied on a made-in-America (probably) Chevy Suburban, presumably part of the Secret Service’s fleet of bullet-proof gas guzzlers. That might take Trump’s mind off the fact that the UK exports £8 billion worth of cars to the US every year, making America the main destination of UK car exports. But it won’t change Trump’s mind that reciprocity is the cornerstone of his tariff policy. America taxes imported cars at a 2.5 per cent rate; the UK imposes a 10 per cent import duty and 20 per cent VAT on imports of American cars. To add insult to what Trump undoubtedly sees as injury, the 20 per cent VAT is applied to the value of the car, including the 10 per cent tariff.

It is one of history’s little ironies that Starmer and the Labour party opposed Brexit, which just might spare Britain the reciprocal tariffs he will apply to the EU.