Donald Trump claims the UK is 'out of line' as he issues threat of tariffs

US President Donald Trump has labelled the UK “out of line” as he issues more threats of tariffs on the European Union.

Since he took office just a matter of weeks ago, Trump has seemingly been on a mission to start an all-out trade war, issuing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and threatening many more countries with similar action.

Beginning on Tuesday (4 February), Trump has implemented a 25 per cent tariff on Canada and Mexico and a 10 per cent tariff on China. Speaking to the press, he has threatened to impose similar tariffs on products coming from the UK and the EU.

Speaking to a reporter, who asked specifically about the UK, Trump said: “Well we’re going to see what happens. It’ll happen.

“We’re going to…might, see how things work out. It might happen with them (the UK). It will definitely happen with the European Union, I can tell you that. Because they’re really taking advantage of us."

Trump continued: “They don't take our cars, they don’t take our farm products, they take almost nothing and we take everything from them, millions of cars, tremendous amounts of food and farm product.”

He added: “The UK is out of line, but I’m sure that one…I think that one can be worked out, but the European Union is an atrocity what they’ve done.”

Trump’s threats have caused the UK’s FTSE 100 to fall 1.3 per cent, with the German and French stock markets both down by around 2 per cent.

Generally, tariffs are paid by the persons importing the goods and are meant to encourage them to buy cheaper domestic goods.

On social media, someone pointed out: “Maybe people in the EU don’t buy American products like you mention because they are simply not good enough. Your cars are horrifically large and inefficient, and your farm products are contaminated with chemicals. You buy EU things because decent EU regulation means they are of a high standard.”

Someone else said: “In Donald Trump 2.0, do the USA now have their version of Liz Truss?”

Another joked: “Bet Donald Trump saw a packet of Wotsits and thought it was a personal attack so now he’s going to impose a 20 per cent tariff on UK goods.”

In his short time in office, Trump has already been criticised for his baseless claim that the Washington DC plane crash was the fault of DEI hiring practices and for posting about the incident on Truth Social while the search and rescue efforts were ongoing.

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