Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has told Sir Keir Starmer not to hit back at Trump’s tariffs on the UK, after US stocks saw the largest market wipeout in history amid fears of a global recession.
Blair was speaking to students at King’s College University in London on Friday, just days after President Trump unveiled major tariffs on the entire world in possibly the biggest shake-up of world economics on record.
While the UK saw the lowest level of tariffs imposed at 10 percent on all goods, and 25 percent on car and steel imports, the government is still working to secure a trade deal with the US that could see tariffs partially or fully removed.
From April 9, countries facing larger tariffs will see their rates come into effect, including the EU with 20 percent, China with 34 percent and Vietnam with 46 percent.
Markets across the world tumbled on Thursday and Friday, with major indexes entering correctional territory and losing up to five percent of their value each day. Some $11 trillion has now been wiped from the US market since Trump’s inauguration.
Now the former Labour PM has said Britain should not respond to the US measures and praised Starmer’s ‘cool head’.
‘I don’t think it is in the UK’s best interest to retaliate,’ he told the students.
It comes after Donald Trump made the shock claim on Friday that Starmer was ‘very happy’ he had slapped 10 percent tariffs on all UK imports.
Tony Blair, pictured last month, told students at King’s College London that the Prime Minister should ‘not retaliate’ to US tariffs
The Prime Minister (pictured taking school pupils on a tour of Downing Street on Friday) is expected to spend the weekend in talks with global leaders about the tariffs
The FTSE 100 plunged in value from Thursday as Trump’s tariffs came into effect, falling around six percent in two days
This was later refuted by Downing Street, with a spokesperson saying: ‘We are disappointed by the tariffs’.
The ‘baseline’ 10 percent US tariff on goods imported from around the world came into effect shortly after 5am on Saturday UK time.
Many other countries will see their tariff rates increase above that next week – and a 25 percent tariff imposed on all foreign cars imported into the US came into effect on Thursday.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to spend the weekend speaking to foreign leaders about the tariffs, after calls with the prime ministers of Australia and Italy on Friday in which the leaders agreed that a trade war would be ‘extremely damaging’.
Downing Street said that the PM spoke to Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni and had ‘been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest’.
Issuing a read-out of their separate conversations on Friday, Number 10 said the leaders ‘all agreed that an all-out trade war would be extremely damaging’.
A spokesperson said the PM ‘has been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest’ and officials will ‘calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate’.
‘He discussed this approach with both leaders, acknowledging that while the global economic landscape has shifted this week, it has been clear for a long time that like-minded countries must maintain strong relationships and dialogue to ensure our mutual security and maintain economic stability,’ the spokesperson added.
Donald Trump (pictured today) has brought in baseline 10 percent tariffs on all countries, with higher levies on some nations to come in on April 9
The US stock market saw its worst results in history after $6.6 trillion was wiped out on Thursday and Friday
The UK government is reportedly still working to get a trade deal with Trump’s administration
Stocks across the world fell this week, with fears of a global recession now growing
The tech-heavy S&P 500 in the US has seen more than 13 percent wiped off its value in the past month
Treasury Minister James Murray told Sky News on Friday that government was asking business leaders where tariffs would hurt the UK the least, as they continue negotiating with the Trump administration.
‘We want to involve businesses in that decision, and we need to be clear that we keep all options on the table,’ Murray said. ‘We reserve the right to retaliate, but we want a deal, and our full focus is on that.’
The UK’s FTSE 100, made up of Britain’s 100 leading firms, saw stock value decrease by 4.3 percent on Friday alone, making it the worst day economically since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
Some 6.3 percent was wiped in value over the week as a whole.
Stateside, markets were equally spooked and lost a huge $6.6 trillion on Thursday and Friday alone, making it the worst week in the US markets in history.
By market close on Friday, the S&P 500 was down almost six percent, reflecting wider trends with other US indexes including the Dow and Nasdaq.
As China announced retaliatory measures of its own 34 percent tariff on American imports, concerns of a wider trade war only grew on Friday, with fears of a global recession increasingly likely.
JP Morgan said on Friday it now estimates there is a 60 percent chance of recession in the US.
Mr Trump (pictured) hit countries around the world with stringent tariffs on Wednesday that are expected to wipe billions from global economic growth
Trump’s measures are already seeing impacts in the real world, with locals near a major Jaguar Land Rover factory in the West Midlands fearing for their livelihoods.
Solihull residents have expressed concerns for the future of the West Midlands town, which is home to one of Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) five UK manufacturing plants that employs 9,000 people.
JLR made a defiant statement earlier this week, saying ‘our business is resilient’ and claiming it was ‘accustomed to changing market conditions’.
But those with experience of working in the industry themselves are less optimistic.
Former automotive consultant and Solihull resident Robert Mills, 70, fears the worst for the town and believes Trump’s tariffs could spell the end for a number of jobs.
‘I’m appalled. It will kill Jaguar Land Rover here in the town,’ he told The Guardian.
‘There could potentially be job losses because JLR export enormously to America. The knock-on effect is going to be enormous.’
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