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Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK products is set to come into force on Saturday, as global stock markets have continued to fall in response to the imposition of import taxes.
The FTSE 100 plummeted on Friday in its worst day of trading since the start of the pandemic while markets on Wall Street also tumbled.
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to spend the weekend speaking to foreign leaders about the tariffs, after calls with the prime ministers of Australia and Italy on Friday in which the leaders agreed that a trade war would be “extremely damaging”.
The “baseline” 10% US tariff on goods imported from around the world is due to come into effect shortly after 5am on Saturday UK time.
Many other countries will see their tariff rates increase above that next week – including the EU which will be hit with a 20% rate. A 25% tariff imposed on all foreign cars imported into the US came into effect on Thursday.
Trading across the world has been hammered in the aftermath of the President’s announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
London’s top stock market index shed 419.75 points, or 4.95%, to close at 8,054.98 on Friday, the biggest single-day decline since March 2020 when the index lost more than 600 points in one day. The Dow Jones fell 5.5% on Friday as China matched Mr Trump’s tariff rate.
Beijing said it would respond with its own 34% tariff on imports of all US products from April 10.
All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday, with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.
Downing Street said that Sir Keir spoke to Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, and had “been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest”.
Issuing a read-out of their separate conversations on Friday, Number 10 said the leaders “all agreed that an all-out trade war would be extremely damaging”.
A spokesperson said the PM “has been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest” and officials will “calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate”.
“He discussed this approach with both leaders, acknowledging that while the global economic landscape has shifted this week, it has been clear for a long time that like-minded countries must maintain strong relationships and dialogue to ensure our mutual security and maintain economic stability,” the spokesperson added.
It is expected that Sir Keir will take further calls with counterparts over the weekend.
Ministers have so far avoided criticism of Mr Trump as they seek to secure a trade agreement with America which they hope could secure some exemption from the tariffs.