UK has allies

It is a bit rich when we have European Commission President Jean-claude Juncker declaring that the newly announced tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US were a “blatant intervention” and that “protectionism cannot be the answer” – yet at the same time he is one of the main protagonists in support of Fortress Europe.

He should have been aware that ever since Donald Trump ran for the Presidency he said that if elected it would be “America first”, which meant he would address the massive imbalance of trade, especially with Europe (Germany) and China. Clearly Trump has been listening to Warren Buffet, who has said that large trade imbalances over time are unsustainable and should be addressed rather than saddle future generations with mounting debt.

The US intervention on tariffs comes at a most unwelcome time for the EU as it continues to refuse to have meaningful negotiations with Britain, which also suffers a massive imbalance of trade with the EU – a whopping £85 billion in goods but in balance with the rest of the world.

Hopefully Juncker and his cohorts soon realise that attempting to “punish” Britain for wanting to leave their political union is not a good idea; otherwise the UK will have little reason to use its undoubted influence with the US to limit a damaging trade war. The clear message to the EU is: “Britain is no longer alone.”

IAN LAKIN Murtle Den Road Milltimber, Aberdeen