The Times of London reports that before announcing a complete economic reset, U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer is anticipated to declare that globalism has “failed.” Starmer is anticipated as well.
Starmer is anticipated to inform the country that the dramatic change in international trade indicates his government must “move further and faster” to boost growth with supply-side reforms. This will be his first significant announcement since the White House imposed broad tariffs on imports from dozens of countries based on their current trade deficits with the United States.
He is anticipated to announce many pro-growth measures later this week, such as loosening restrictions on the production of electric vehicles and revising the government’s industrial policy. Additionally scheduled for Wednesday is a “economic and financial dialogue” between India and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.
A new trade agreement with Australia is also being negotiated.
According to The Times, Starmer has responded to President Trump’s audacious declaration by saying that although he thinks tariffs are the “wrong” course of action, he also “understands Trump’s economic nationalism and why it is popular with voters who believe they have seen no benefits from free trade and mass immigration.”
“There is a reason why people support Trump even when we disagree with what he did. We are in a new era, the world has changed, and globalization is over,” a prime minister’s office spokesperson told the publication. “We must show that our strategy—a more responsive Labour government that is more reformist—can offer solutions to people across the nation.”
The prime minister will meet with foreign leaders to discuss the effects of tariffs during the weekend at Chequers, his official country home in Buckinghamshire. He had what was called a fruitful phone talk with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.
The two world leaders “agreed that a trade war was in nobody’s interests but nothing should be off the table,” according to a Downing Street account of the conversation.
The two nations are still negotiating a possible trade agreement, even though Starmer is not yet set to meet with Trump. Although talks had stopped under the previous Conservative Party government, Britain has been trying to negotiate a new trade agreement with the United States since exiting the European Union in 2020.
Starmer was “confident” that an agreement could be achieved after meeting with President Trump at the White House in February.
With his statement that a “great” deal that may help Britain escape upcoming tariffs was on the table, Trump appeared to concur. Trump and Starmer spoke over the phone again last week, and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds just traveled to Washington to continue the discussions.
Although Downing Street has acknowledged that they would not be receiving the “free trade” agreement they had hoped for, the United Kingdom has referred to a possible accord as a “economic prosperity deal.”
Jonathan Portes, an economics professor at King’s College London, told the Associated Press that “some sort of arrangement that might let the UK escape some tariffs is possible but it would not be a full-scale trade deal.” “There are two sides to Brexit: it gives us more flexibility and allows us to negotiate in our own best interests.”
The Washington Post reported that the United Kingdom has already proposed to lower taxes on imported American fish and cattle. A long-standing objective of President Trump’s, Starmer’s administration has also hinted at the potential of reducing the British taxes paid by significant American IT firms.
