First shots fired in trade war as Trump imposes 10 per cent tariff on imports

President Trump has used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) to impose the tariff, which the White House said ‘includes an individualised reciprocal higher tariff on the countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits’.

Whilst the UK looks set to face the baseline tariff of 10 percent a majority of US trading partners - including the EU which will face a tariff of 20 per cent - actually look set to be affected by much higher rates.  

Trump is looking to revitalise manufacturing in the US and reduce the $1.2 trillion trade deficit reported in 2024.

“These tariffs seek to address the injustices of global trade, re-shore manufacturing, and drive economic growth for the American people,” said a statement from the White House. “The need to maintain a resilient domestic manufacturing capacity is particularly acute in advanced sectors like autos, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, transport equipment, technology products, machine tools, and basic and fabricated metals, where loss of capacity could permanently weaken U.S. competitiveness.”