33m ago
08.58 BST
UK in
‘best possible position’ to negotiate future exemptions from Trump tariffs,
business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says
Good
morning. So much for the “unprecedented” state visit invite. The real spring
statement, the one that is likely to have most impact on the UK tomorrow, is
coming tomorrow, when President Trump announces global tariffs, and the
government expects that the UK will not get an exemption. As Nick Robinson put
it to Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, in the opening question of his
Today programme interview this morning: “Sucking up to Donald Trump didn’t
work, did it?”
On the
Today programme, and in his other interviews this morning, Reynolds’s response
was essentially: Not yet. He argued that the UK still has a good chance of
winning tariff exemptions, but just not tomorrow. Or that the sucking up might
still pay off – not that Reynolds put it quite like that.
Instead,
Reynolds told Robinson:
We have
engaged with the US on the potential for a deal, because that is in the UK’s
national interest, and actually would be mutually beneficial to the US and the
UK …
Only the
president will himself know exactly how the US is going to take tomorrow. And
you’re right to say it might not be possible for any country in the world to be
exempted from the initial announcements.
But I do
believe the work we have done means the UK is in the best possible position of
any country to potentially reach an agreement.
I do
believe UK businesses support our approach. They support the calm-headed
approach, the desire to engage, to remain at the table, while we can
potentially secure an agreement.
In the
interview Reynolds also did not challenge the assertion that the tariff
announcement tomorrow will have more impact on the British economy than last
week’s spring statement. Tomorrow would be ‘“a very serious and significant
moment”, Reynolds said.
I will
post more from his interviews soon.
Here is
the agenda for the day.
Morning:
Keir Starmer is on a visit to promote the rise in the national living wage
coming into effect today.
9am: Andy
Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, gives evidence to the Commons work
and pensions committee on reforming jobcentres.
9.20am:
Kemi Badenoch is interviewed on LBC.
Morning:
Keir Starmer chairs cabinet
10am:
Richard Hughes, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and colleagues
give evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the spring statement.
11.30am:
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
11.30am:
Kemi Badenoch and Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, hold a press conference on
“Labour’s jobs tax”.
Noon:
Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Also, at
some point today Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is set to unveil the
emergency bill she is introducing to block the Sentencing Council guidelines
that she described as implementing “two-tier justice”.
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