London- US President Donald Trump does not hesitate to impose more customs duties on his enemies and friends alike.
While the European Union decides to respond similarly to the American escalation, the British (who are outside the union) chooses a more flexible approach, preferring to bear the burdens of a new tax on entering into a trade war that is not calculated by the consequences with America.
British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves admitted that the government of the Labor Party is not in a position to enter into a commercial war with Washington that will not be in the interest of any party and will only end with increasing burdens on consumers and British companies.
The US President had announced a new package of customs duties on car imports to the United States by 25% added to another imposed on the aluminum and steel sector earlier, while Trump described him as a “liberation day”, welcome to make bilateral deals with countries that want to avoid imposing these fees on their exports to the United States.
Margin of negotiation
The British government is trying to invest the negotiating margins of the US President and rely on the “special relations” linking Washington and London to persuade the US administration to reduce customs duties on British goods.
British Trade Minister Jonathan Reynolds said that Britain is counting on the ongoing negotiations with the United States on more than one level in order to secure tax exemptions in favor of British companies, stressing that his country will not tend in the direction of imposing similar reprisals on American goods.
Attempts to satisfy the Trump administration may pay the British government to cancel the taxes targeting American technology companies, as the British Finance Minister hinted for the possibility of reducing the tax services tax targeting major technology companies, especially American companies.
Weeks ago, British Prime Minister Kiir Starmer led these truce efforts during his meeting with the White House to the American President, and despite Trump’s recognition that the British Prime Minister was a “brilliant negotiator” and he may succeed in persuading him except British goods from the upcoming customs duties package, the positive atmosphere of Trump’s visit did not prevent his decision to impose these taxes without excluding the British ally.
Fluencing assigned association
The British Automobile Manufacturers Association (SMMT) says that the value of British auto exports to the United States is about 8 billion pounds (10.35 billion dollars) annually (14% of the value of British exports to the United States and has the largest share of exports), and the American market represents the second largest British car market after the European Union.
The United States imposes customs duties by 2.5% on British car exports, and it is expected that the new customs duties will be added to this tariff on April 3 to 27.5%, amid fears of damage to other vital production sectors of the British economy in the event of other customs duties.
The British Financial Times says that the recent tariff war launched by Trump and the uncertainty that it lives in global markets, prompted Reeves to reduce its expectations for economic growth this year from 2% to 1%, amid doubts about the collapse of the budget rules that it seeks to preserve.
The director of the British Commercial Policy Program at the European Institute of Political Economy (ECIPE), David Hanig, believes that the British government does not want to adventure with an economically costly association with the United States, or to reopen a file similar to what it did after its decision to separate from the European Union, given the economic cost that will incur and of its economy to the United States in many ways.
Hanig, who is also a member of the British Parliamentary Trade and Business Committee in a comment to (Al -Jazeera Net) that the government of the Labor Party insists on following a more soft approach that will enable it to avoid the worst in its relationship with the United States, because it does not count to make any retaliatory taxes a difference for Washington in view of the size of these small exports compared to the American market, which drives the British government to search for exits by diplomatic means.
The spokesman added that Britain may go in these troubled international circumstances to greater trade coordination with the European bloc to overcome this crisis, as the European Union is the first trade partner for Britain.
Row
But a few days ago in Paris, where the British Prime Minister was standing side by side with European leaders in their endeavor to create a joint defensive force in anticipation of the crackdown on the military coalition with Washington in Ukraine, he tried to speak with a tone closer to the European position on the commercial escalation against Washington, describing Trump’s decision to impose new taxes as “worrying”, and stressing that all options to deal with this step are “on the table.”
“Britain prefers not gambling with its relations with Washington, pending the results that the bilateral negotiations will result in reducing customs duties without excluding that they are lined up behind Europeans who initiated the announcement of retaliatory measures and took the initiative in the event that British endeavors fail. To extract tax exemptions from Washington.
Regarding the efforts of the British government to persuade the Trump administration to conclude a free trade agreement with London, the spokesman believes that the United States is no longer concerned with concluding classic trade agreements similar to a free trade agreement with Britain and prefers to conclude specific target and purpose deals.
He adds that Washington may not think about concluding this agreement except in a geopolitical context, such as supporting the economy of a strategic partner as Britain, especially after its exit from the European Union.
