Trump’s trade war threat ‘will help UK in talks with the EU’

DONALD Trump’s threat of a trade war with Brussels could boost Britain’s position in Brexit talks, negotiators believe.

Whitehall officials think the US President’s warning that he could slap tariffs on car imports from Europe could make EU leaders more reluctant to put up trade barriers with the UK.

Mr Trump has threatened to escalate his trade war after the EU retaliated against his tariffs on aluminium and steel by introducing their own duties on iconic American goods such as Harley Davidson motorcycles and bourbon. After the counter-measures were unveiled last month, Mr Trump tweeted: ‘If these tariffs and barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20 per cent tariff on all of their cars coming into the US. Build them here!’

A UK Government official told the Politico website: ‘At a time when Donald Trump is looking at a 20 per cent tariff on European cars, the Germans may look favourably on a deal that avoids trade barriers with their biggest export market for cars.’