Donald Trump threatens UK with new trade war – warning he could impose 100 per cent tariffs in retaliation to any new taxes on tech giants

Donald Trump threatened to start a new trade war against the UK.

The president warned that any country that imposes taxes on tech giants will impose a 100 percent tariff on imports to the United States.

And he said it would come into effect immediately, nullifying all existing agreements he had made.

This could mean new economic pain for the UK, which already has a Digital Services Tax.

A two per cent tax on the income of foreign social media and search engine firms was introduced in 2020 and will raise £944 million in 2025-26.

If President Trump follows through on his threat, it could mean the end of the 10 per cent tariff rate he agreed to on most UK goods last year.

He wrote on the Truth Social platform on Friday: ‘Several European countries are discussing the imminent implementation of a Digital Services Tax on American Companies.

‘Some of these countries are actually very close to doing this.

‘Please allow this declaration to declare that any Country imposing such Duty shall forthwith be charged with a 100% TARIFF on all Goods shipped into the United States.

‘This TARIFF shall supersede Trade Agreements with the Country, whether implemented, signed or not.

‘Also, if they continue, 100% TARIFF will be applied immediately.’

This echoes a threat he made earlier this year, specifically against the UK.

He told reporters at the White House in April: ‘We are looking into this and we could cover this very easily by putting a huge tariff on the UK, so they’d better be careful.

‘If they don’t reduce the duty we’ll probably impose a huge tariff on the UK.’

His warning could also spell trouble for Andy Burnham, who has proposed increasing business rates for online retailers such as Amazon to reduce taxes on pubs and clubs.

On Friday night Shadow Affairs Minister Andrew Griffith said: ‘This is further evidence that Labor has seriously damaged our relationship with the US.

‘The Labor Party – both Keir Starmer and his likely successor Andy Burnham – must urgently work with our US partners to avoid such damaging tariffs on British companies already struggling with this Government’s tax rises.’

Tariffs have become the US president’s weapon of choice to force American enemies and allies to meet their strategic and economic demands.

He made a number of threats against England but overall the country fared better than some of its European peers.

Earlier this year, Trump promised to raise tariffs on Britain and other European allies until the US was allowed to buy Greenland from Denmark.

It also threatened last year to impose new tariffs and export controls on countries with digital taxes or regulations affecting American tech giants.

In an August 2025 post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said he would “stand up to countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies.”

‘Digital Taxes, Digital Services Regulations and Digital Market Regulations are all designed to harm or discriminate against American Technology,’ he wrote.

‘This must end,’ he said, promising to ‘impose significant additional tariffs’ on the offending country’s exports to the US ‘unless these discriminatory acts are eliminated’.

Meanwhile, in August last year, Mr. Trump quietly imposed tariffs on hundreds of products containing steel or aluminum.

Affected products included washing machines, garden furniture, fire extinguishers and parts of a child’s cot or high chair.

Britain’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, Triumph Motorcycles, was also among those surprised by this move.

Chief executive Nick Bloor said at the time: ‘The latest announcement from the US Department of Commerce comes as a surprise, especially given the recently negotiated trade agreements.’

JCB chief executive Graeme Macdonald said the increased tariffs would affect all 30,000 diggers and construction machinery it exports to America each year.

He said: ‘The tariffs currently in place are quite punitive and cover every machine we ship to the US. ‘This will require us to reconsider how we trade with North America.’

Mr Trump’s latest tariff threat adds further tensions to UK-US relations, which have deteriorated since Sir Keir Starmer rejected Britain’s involvement in the Iran war.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump suggested in an interview with Sky News that the terms of the UK-US trade deal brokered last year ‘could always be changed’.

Downing Street declined to comment.