UK’s Starmer Says He Opposes Trade Tariffs in Signal to Trump

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he’s not a fan of tariffs, a signal to Donald Trump that his UK government will oppose any move by the president-elect’s incoming US administration to erect trade barriers.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to slap tariffs of up to 20% on all imports to the US, and even higher on China trade after he takes power next month. Starmer told Parliament on Thursday he wouldn’t speculate on what Trump would do, but that he wanted to improve on the UK’s current trade with the US.

“Am i alive to the danger of tariffs? Yes of course,” the premier told the House of Commons Liaison Committee of senior backbench lawmakers. “It won’t come as any surprise to you that I’m not a fan of tariffs, and therefore we have to make sure that we avoid tariffs. We’ve got very good trade with the US.”