UK-US Trade and Tariffs

Lord Bishop of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gustafsson (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a joy to be here with the noble Lord again, and I thank him for his question. Why do we not work with all sides and not just the US? My role is Minister for Investment, and I love trade and investment—and I do not see that this is a matter of decisions. I want to have a strong and vibrant trading relationship with the US, I want to have a strong and vibrant relationship with Europe, and I want to have a strong and vibrant trading relationship with many of the emerging economies. This is something that we can navigate; it is not a situation where we need to pick one at the cost of the other, and I am really excited about seeing how we build and develop on all those trading relationships all around the world.

On growth, I share the noble Lord’s passion. I believe that the digital trade that we have is a huge opportunity. Already there is a lot that we do in the services piece that is worthy of celebration. Stitching that together alongside the digital surely has to be the future of the growth-driving economies that we see coming out of the UK. If I can promise noble Lords one thing, it is that I will be an advocate and ambassador as we champion the growth that we can drive through digital trade.

[The Lord Bishop of Southwark]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his cautionary words in the other place, repeated here, about eschewing simplistic solutions and “loud voices”, following the imposition of these arbitrary and unwarranted tariffs, and to the shadow Secretary of State for advocating cool heads. That is vital.

Does the Minister agree that, if the impact of this very regrettable development is to depress economic activity—which is all too likely, sadly—there needs to be a priority assigned to protect the most vulnerable in this country from its effects? Will she further comment on any co-ordinated action with other countries to mitigate the effects on those territories, particularly in the Commonwealth, whose economic resilience is far less than our own?

[Baroness Gustafsson (Lab)]

I share the right reverend Prelate’s passion for making sure that we are supporting not just businesses and consumers but communities and people—the people who live in the communities that are affected. A fulsome response is one that is felt by all. At this point, we are still hypothesising; we are still understanding what the implication could be, whether a trade agreement could be arranged and whether reciprocal tariffs could be made. We are still at a point where we need to understand and turn that theory into understanding the real impact on our economy, what it may look like and who would be the hardest hit. But absolutely—if this is something where we are going to see communities damaged, we will be looking to think about how we can support them through that.