US Tariffs

Lord Johnson of Lainston Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

My noble friend raises a really important question about our current trading relationship based on the new world order that we find ourselves in. I do not have a specific update on the GCC deal; my noble friend knows that I was out there a couple of weeks ago, and we are incredibly close to an agreement. I should like to reassure the House that, in my travels around the globe, I find that we are still seen as a major place for investment globally. We have competitive advantage in our industrial strategy, in our rule of law and in our talent base. The trade deal that we did with India was significant, and the trade deal with the US remains the first and best trade deal that the US has negotiated. While this weekend has thrown up some bumps in the road, we remain confident. The negotiation with the Gulf states is ongoing but remains very positive, and we hope to have some good news in the coming weeks.

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

My Lords, I read somewhere that the Department for International Trade is going to be reducing the number of experts in the field from 1,600 to 1,000. Is now really the time to be reducing our global staff by a third when our businesses need all the support they can get at this time of tariff turmoil?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

I thank my noble predecessor for the question. We are trying to balance the pressure from the public world to right-size our Civil Service more broadly to make it more effective—technology and information are tools that can help us with that. We are also trying to balance the public purse to ensure that we have the right quality of people to address the significant challenges that we have as a Government. It is not a zero-sum game. We have very talented people; I addressed the team in the Gulf when I was out there a couple of weeks ago, and I remain impressed by the quality of the people that we have in this sector. But it is undeniable that we must make sure, based on the advantages that we have in technology and information flows these days, that we also have the right number of people in markets at the same time.