U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer says that new global tariffs from the Trump administration have changed the global economic landscape and created a ‘new world’.
The remarks came as part of Starmer's opinion pieced penned for The Sunday Telegraph in the wake of a wave of shocking new tariffs, the highest seen in over a century, introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump last week.
The new U.S. baseline import tax of 10 percent came into effect over the weekend, and both the U.K. and Australia are facing only this tax level, compared to many nations facing targeted tariffs of a more severe nature.
Despite the uncertainty of how these new tariffs will play out, with some still to come into effect, Starmer said that he stood “ready to use industrial policy to help shelter British business from the storm.”
“Some people may feel uncomfortable about this – the idea the state should intervene directly to shape the market has often been derided," He said.
“But we simply cannot cling on to old sentiments when the world is turning this fast.”
Meanwhile, on Saturday as the first round of tariffs came into effect Trump wrote on social media platform Truth Social that this was “an economic revolution” and to “hang tough” for a “historic” end result.
On the topic of retaliation tariffs, Starmer said that “all options remain on the table” but was not
“This is an economic revolution, and we will win,” the US president wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Saturday. “Hang tough, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”
Starmer disagreed. “Nobody wins from a trade war,” he said, describing “profound ” economic consequences from Trump’s trade offensive and signalling that “all options remain on the table” in responding to the tariffs.
UK ministers had been reluctant to criticise the Trump administration in the wake of the tariffs as officials have been in talks with the US in recent weeks in the hope of securing a trade deal with Washington.
Starmer insisted in his opinion piece that a trade deal will be struck with the US only “if it is right for British business and the security of working people”, insisting that he would “continue to make the case for free and open trade”.
Trump’s 34-percent tariff on Chinese goods is set to kick in next week, triggering Beijing’s announcement of a 34-percent levy on US products from Thursday.
The European Union and Japan are also among about 60 US trading partners set to face higher rates on Wednesday, raising fears of recessions in some of the world’s leading economies.
