Britain's finance minister said on Tuesday she was hopeful of securing a trade deal with the U.S. to avoid possible trade tariffs, but warned Britain was still likely to be hurt by duties imposed on other countries.
Countries worldwide are scrambling to shield themselves from potential tariffs during U.S. President Donald Trump's second term in office. His administration's new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, along with a doubling of duties on Chinese goods, took effect earlier on Tuesday.
"I think there's every reason to be hopeful about coming to some sort of a trade deal," British finance minister Rachel Reeves said at a conference hosted by the Make UK manufacturing industry body in London.
"I'm not naive. This is not going to be an easy thing to secure for reasons that we all understand. There will have to be give and take on both sides. We absolutely recognise that, but I do think there's a big opportunity here."
Asked about the latest tariffs imposed on China, Canada and Mexico, Reeves said Britain was likely to be hit indirectly.
"It's absolutely the case that even if tariffs aren't applied to the UK, we will be affected by slowing global trade, by a slower GDP growth and by higher inflation than otherwise would be the case," she said.
Following a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington last week, Trump told a joint news conference that the two countries were negotiating a bilateral trade deal that could help avert U.S. tariffs.
Starmer said a new economic deal, which would have advanced technology at its core, would strengthen the already strong U.S.-British trading relationship.
On Tuesday, Reeves also acknowledged that British businesses trading with the European Union had been hit with "red tape and bureaucracy" since the Brexit deal agreed by the previous Conservative government in December 2020.
Trade negotiations "shouldn't be about choosing between the U.S. and our nearest neighbours and trading partners in Europe", she said. "I ... believe that that is in our mutual interests, our interest and in the interests of our European partners, if we can get freer trade once again."
