(March 31): The UK is expecting to be impacted by US tariffs this week, even as intensive talks continue to secure an exemption for British goods, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said.

US President Donald Trump has said that on Wednesday, April 2, he will impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on nations that his administration deems to disadvantage American companies with trade barriers beyond import taxes, which could include measures such as the UK’s value added tax, a sales levy. 

“We have been preparing for all eventualities and are having intense discussions,” Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, told reporters on Monday. Nevertheless, Britain expects to be “impacted” by what the Trump administration implements, he said, adding: “We are going to wait to see the detail before responding, and we are going to continue to have constructive discussions.”

Any tariffs that are announced this week will come on top of levies on steel and aluminium and on cars already announced by the Trump administration. They are a blow to Starmer’s Labour government, which has sought to negotiate exemptions for Britain citing its “balanced” trading relationship with the US, but has so far failed. 

“There’s a lot of goodwill and a lot of economic strength to build on,” according to Pares. “We will always act in the national interest, and we reserve our right to respond in a way which protects Britain’s interests,” he said, adding that “a trade war with the US is not in anybody’s interests”.

Speculation has mounted around what concessions the UK might make in any talks with the US. Pares didn’t bat away the suggestion the UK might alter its digital services tax, which the US says is aimed at American technology companies, but he did say Britain won’t compromise on its agricultural standards.

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