Sir Keir Starmer's food standards stance puts UK on collision course with Donald Trump on tariffs
Sir Keir Starmer will not water down the UK’s food safety standards, Downing Street has said, a decision which experts claim could put the Prime Minister on a collision course with Donald Trump.
The President suggested in comments overnight that he is poised to expand his tariff regime to both the UK and the European Union, but added that he thinks a deal can be done with Britain.
In particular, he said he wanted to target the EU as “they don't take our farm products, they take almost nothing and we take everything from them”.
Both the UK and EU have higher food safety standards than the US.
This was highly controversial with farmers, who have long argued that giving other countries with lower safety standards and cheaper food production simply damages British agriculture and food security.
At Prime Minister’s Questions recently, Sir Keir said “we will never lower our standards” when it comes to a free-trade deal with the US.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed that this remained Government policy to The Yorkshire Post, saying: “We want to boost our trading relations to the benefit of Britain.
“Our position on food standards has not changed.”
Stephen Hunsaker, author of the UK in a Changing Europe trade tracker, commented: “The Prime Minister might have avoided the crosshairs of Trump’s tariffs for a little bit longer.
“His focus has primarily been on the EU and a lot of that has to do with food imports.
“However, food standards have got to be a red line with the impacts and repercussions it would have on trade with the EU, not to mention Northern Ireland.
“It does feel inevitable the UK is going to come to a head with Trump over something with trade, it’s just unclear when that’s going to be.”
The looming prospect of a trade war with the US threatened to overshadow Sir Keir’s meeting with EU chiefs in Brussels last night.
Asked by the BBC early yesterday if he will target the UK with tariffs, Mr Trump said: “UK is out of line but I’m sure that one… I think that one can be worked out.”
The US president also said discussions with Sir Keir have “been very nice”, adding: “We’ve had a couple of meetings. We’ve had numerous phone calls. We’re getting along very well.”
Mr Trump has announced he will impose 25 per cent trade taxes on goods coming from America’s nearest neighbours and largest trade partners – Canada and Mexico – as well as a 10 per cent levy on Chinese goods.
Yesterday, Mr Trump relented and announced a one-month delay to tariffs on Mexico, however both Canada and China have threatened retaliatory measures sparking fears of a trade war.
Wall Street stocks slumped when markets opened, amid fears the tariffs will drive up inflation in the US. In the UK, the FTSE 100 dropped sharply.