The government will seek to persuade Donald Trump that harming the UK by hiking tariffs is not in his interest, David Lammy has said
The foreign secretary said he plans to “get across” to the president-elect that “hurting your closest allies” is not in the United States’ interest, as fears of a trade war loom.
Trump has vowed to increase tariffs on goods imported from around the world by 10 per cent, rising to 60 per cent on items from China.
Lammy was asked about Trump’s trade policies on the BBC’s Newscast podcast and whether the UK government would seek a special trade arrangement with the US so no extra tariffs are imposed on imports.
The foreign secretary responded: “We will seek to ensure and to get across to the United States – and I believe that they would understand this – that hurting your closest allies cannot be in your medium or long-term interests, whatever the pursuit of public policy in relation to some of the problems posed by China.”
Lammy also insisted past critical comments he had made about the president-elect are “old news”.
The foreign secretary was repeatedly pressed on whether he believed the president-elect had changed since he called him a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath” in 2018, or if Trump brought them up when they met in New York in September.
Lammy said: “Not even vaguely.”
“He didn’t seem to think it mattered”, he added.
The foreign secretary said he had “felt in his bones” there could be another Trump presidency and was “quite impressed” by the Republican campaign when he met the team earlier this year.
He also suggested he would be able to find “common ground” with Trump.
However, he said a state visit in the next year would be “a bit of a tall order” as they take time to organise.
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