LONDON: United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday (Feb 2) that although Britain was “out of line” when it came to trade, he thought it may be able to avoid tariffs, adding of the imbalance: “I think that one can be worked out”.
Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China over the weekend and said they would “definitely happen” with the European Union, sparking fears of a trade war that would derail economic growth and hike consumer costs.
Asked about Britain and whether it would face tariffs next, Trump told reporters: “We’ll see how things work out. It might happen with them, but it will definitely happen with the European Union, I can tell you that.”
“The UK is way out of line. We’ll see … but the European Union is really out of line. The UK is out of line, but I think that one can be worked out. But the European Union is an atrocity, what they’ve done.”
He said Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer had “been very nice. We’ve had a couple of meetings, we’ve had numerous phone calls. We’re getting along very well. We’ll see whether or not we can balance out our budget”.
A British government spokesperson said the US was an indispensable ally and close trading partner.
“We have a fair and balanced trading relationship which benefits both sides of the Atlantic,” the spokesperson said.
“We look forward to working closely with President Trump to continue to build on UK-US trading relations for our economy, businesses and the British people.”
