Union is not one of equals

Sir, – If ever there was a good example of why the UK is better out of an unreformed EU, then the imposition of EU tariffs against American products is it.

The EU tariffs are in retaliation for American tariffs on EU metals exported to America, presumably to save the US domestic steel industry being undercut by cheap imports, costing US jobs.

Who are the principal exporters of metals production to the US? Germany and France. So as per usual, the EU is manipulated for the economic benefit of Germany and France and meanwhile, UK consumers are going to see 25% increases in the price of a whole host of American products, ranging from orange juice, clothing and cosmetics to motor-bikes and scooters.

It would have been understandable if the EU tariffs were restricted to American metals

exported to the EU, but no.

Instead we are seeing punitive measures that affect a very wide range of goods, increasing their prices by 25% (with the exception of playing cards, where the imposed tariff is 10%... how weird is that ?)

Did Scotland or the UK have a say?

Of course not.

This was another authoritarian diktat from Brussels, so typical of the arrogance of this bureaucratic and dysfunctional union.

We are better out of it, and making our own decisions on trade barriers. Derek Farmer. Knightsward Farm, Anstruther.