Punitive tariffs are Theresa May’s reward for criticising Donald Trump
sir – You report (June 1) that Theresa May appealed to Donald Trump to exempt the EU from the new US tariff on steel imports.
Could the US president’s dismissal of her plea be at all related to the fact that she has spent the past two years publicly criticising him on a variety of inconsequential issues?
On to the list of her many failings, this worryingly incompetent Prime Minister can also add “statecraft”. Christopher Devine
Salisbury, Wiltshire
sir – With a £9.2billion order in for Us-manufactured F-35 jets, as opposed to the far less expensive Eurofighter, perhaps a phone call to President Trump might be appropriate.
We should inform him that we can no longer afford the planes owing to the cost of unemployment benefits and the fall in tax intake to the Treasury that the likely job losses in our steel industry will entail as a consequence of the new US tariffs.
This is what happens when protectionist trade wars begin: we all lose out. Michael R Gordon
Bewdley, Worcestershire
sir – Shopping for wine, I picked up a reasonably priced bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from California, but replaced it in favour of a Tempranillo (from Spain).
When it comes to trade wars with a protectionist populist ignoramus, we too can play his game. Charles Foster
Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire
sir – It’s an odd practice of our American cousins that their first reaction when threatened by a third party is to turn on their friends. Maxwell Blake
London SW3
sir – In the early 20th century, US president Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as saying that the essence of American foreign policy was to “speak softly and carry a big stick”. It would seem that, a century later, the only changes are the volume level and the size of the cudgel. Rod Jones
Bride, Isle of Man
sir – The US sanctions have elicited an indignant response from the EU trade commissioner, who said: “This is not the way we do business.”
Judging by how the bloc is treating Britain, it’s exactly how they do it. John Bergin
Oxton, Wirral
sir – The new US steel tariffs show that hopes of a favourable post-brexit trade deal with the US are deluded.
The fact is that Brexit would be a stake through the heart of the British steel industry. We would lose the strength in numbers the EU gives us to stand up to Mr Trump – and we would be shutting ourselves out of the world’s biggest tariff-free zone, just when we need it more than ever. Kevin Sullivan
Swansea