Trump tariffs live updates: UK must 'prepare for the worst' as world braces for major economic shock

The thought of Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds making a deal with the billionaire hyenas in Donald Trump’s trade and economic team will not fill anyone with confidence.

The Labour apparatchik tried to explain, on Radio 4, why the country should be grateful for an increase in the minimum wage.

His narrative was risible when council taxes, energy bills, water rates, the TV licence, mobile subscriptions and the cost of first and second-class stamps are surging.

The best cheer Reynolds could offer was three reductions in the bank rate since July 2024.

Read the full comment piece here:

Major economies including the European Union and Canada have vowed retaliation against Trump’s tariffs while others such as the UK are insisting the response will not be ‘knee-jerk’.

Let’s take a look at how other countries have so far reacted and what could come next:

• China has already introduced a 10-15% tax on some US agricultural goods as Beijing retaliated to an additional 20 percent tariffs on all goods. China has also targeted US aviation, defence and tech firms
• The European Union, which Trump has accused of trying to “screw” the United States, saidit still hoped to negotiate a solution – but that “all instruments are on the table” to retaliate if necessary with EU tariffs targeting US goods worth €26bn (£22bn) will start on 13 April. The levy will cover items ranging “from boats to bourbon to motorbikes”, as well as steel and aluminium products
• Canada has imposed a 25% tariff on US steel, aluminium and other goods worth about C$60bn ($42bn; £32bn) in response to US imposing 25% tariffs last month. ‘We are going to be very deliberate in terms of the measures we take, to fight for Canada,’ Prime Minister Mark Carney said yesterday
• Mexico has delayed introducing its own retaliatory tariffs while negotiations continue and yesterday lowered its 2025 growth forecast from between two and three percent to a range of 1.5 to 2.3 percent, citing tensions with its largest trading partner.
• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has insisted he has held ‘productive negotiations’ towards a UK-US trade deal but admitted the UK would likely be hit by tariffs. He has been urged by some in Parliament to follow Canada and the EU by launching retaliatory tariffs.

Speaking at the White House yesterday, Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Liberation Day ‘will go down as one of the most important days in modern American history.’

It has been reported Trump will likely announce an across-the-board 20 percent tariff on most of the nation’s imports.

Trump memorably described tariff as his favourite word when he ran to reclaim the White House last year as it forms a key component of his administration’s aim to encourage US consumers to buy more American-made goods, thereby boosting the country’s economy – in other words ‘America First’.

Imposing tariffs is seen as necessary by Team Trump to stop what he has described as Americans getting ripped off as he looks to reduce the gap between the value of goods the US imports and those it exports to other countries

In 2024, the US had a goods trade deficit of $213bn (£165bn) with the European Union, something Trump has branded an ‘atrocity’.

Trump has also used tariffs as a tool to crack down on migrants and drugs entering the US with penalties already imposed on Mexico and Canada.

Bridget Phillipson has today insisted the UK is in a ‘strong position’ to strike an economic deal with the U.S but is ‘entering a challenging period’.

We know that we’re entering a challenging period and a trade war with the US would be in no one’s interests.

We believe we are in a strong position to strike that kind of deal.

The Education Secretary said she would not ‘speculate on eventualities’ when asked what Britain’s ‘plan ‘ is if negotiations fail to produce a wider economic deal.

President Donald Trump did not want his major tariff announcement to be a laughing matter.

‘I was going to do it April 1st but I said, “I don’t like that date,”‘ Trump said at an event with the nation’s governors in February. ‘I don’t want to take the abuse.’

Still, he flirted with the idea: ‘Should I just do April 1st?’ It’s going to cost a lot of money to wait one day,’ he joked.

But then he decided to turn April 2nd into a Trump-branded holiday: ‘Liberation Day’ he dubbed it.

Liberation Day is now set to become the president’s first big event in the White House’s Rose Garden of his second term. It will take place at 4 pm (9pm UK time) – to prevent a split screen moment of the announcement coinciding with markets tumbling.

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves will both face questions from MPs today as Donald Trump prepares to announce major new tariffs that could derail their economic plans.

The US president is expected to unveil sweeping tariffs at an event at the White House around 9pm UK time, in a move he has dubbed Liberation Day.

Ministers are still hopeful of securing a deal with the US that would provide some protection from the import taxes, but Sir Keir acknowledged that ‘the likelihood is there will be tariffs’ on UK exports.

Yesterday, senior government ministers said the UK must ‘prepare for the worst’ ahead of Trump’s announcement.

Today, Sir Keir will face MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions while the Commons Treasury Committee will grill the Chancellor on last week’s spring statement, but is sure to face questions about what the tariffs will mean for her plans.

Economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility have warned that US tariffs could eliminate Ms Reeves’s ‘headroom’ against her debt target, requiring more spending cuts or tax rises to meet the rules she has set herself, as well as knock up to 1% off the size of the economy.

Meanwhile, analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) suggested tariffs on car imports would put 25,000 UK jobs at risk and ‘completely destabilise the UK car manufacturing industry’.

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage with Donald Trump expected to announce sweeping tariffs that could plunge the UK and other world economies into panic.

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are both expected to be grilled on how the country will respond to the U.S President amid fears the Government’s economic strategy could later lie in tatters.

It comes as Trump prepares to announce sweeping taxes on goods from around the world, which threaten to ‘knock out’ the Chancellor’s latest financial plans only a week after she announced them.

Markets around the globe have plunged in anticipation of Mr Trump’s so-called Liberation Day, and yesterday Britain’s economy suffered a string of downgrades.

Stick with us for the latest developments, analysis and reaction throughout the day.