May tells Trump of her trade war fears
Warning over plan for tax on steel
THERESA May yesterday told Donald Trump of her “deep concern” at his plan to introduce tariffs on steel and aluminium exports to the US.
The Prime Minister expressed her reservations during a tense telephone call to the White House.
A No10 spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister raised our deep concern at the President’s forthcoming announcement on steel and aluminium tariffs, noting that multilateral action was the only way to resolve the problem of global overcapacity.”
Trump wants a 25% duty on steel and 10% on aluminium in a bid to help America’s metal industry.
The EU is one of the biggest exporters of steel to the US, including £400million a year from the UK.
REPRISALS
Unions say the plan would risk jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.
Last week European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned of reprisals if Trump gets his way.
He said: “We will put tariffs on Harley-Davidson, on bourbon and on blue jeans – Levis.”
Trump then threatened a tax on EU-made cars and tweeted: “Trade wars are good and easy to win.”
Mrs May’s deputy, Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, rebuked Trump yesterday.
He told the BBC: “The US is not taking an advisable course in threatening a trade war. Trade wars don’t do anybody any good.” He added: “We tried in Britain in the 60s and 70s protecting our car industry from competition. It didn’t work. “We lost all our export markets because competitors who were more competitive gobbled those up.”
While speaking to Trump, Mrs May also discussed the “humanitarian catastrophe” in war-torn Syria.
No10 said: “They agreed Russia and others with influence over the Syrian regime must act now to cease their campaign of violence.”