What Trump’s new tariffs mean for you and the UK economy
Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs on 60 countries, including the UK, to replace the 10 percent global tax that expires on Friday.
The Supreme Court in February struck down the administration’s previous attempts to impose aggressive trade policies, but Mr. Trump was still able to impose temporary tariffs for 150 days.
The new tariffs were imposed over claims that countries were not doing enough to enforce bans on products produced using forced labor.
This move by the US president could allow him to create a more durable tariff framework based on the 1974 trade law.
His administration says the duties were imposed on these countries “because of their failure to ban and effectively enforce the import of goods produced with forced labor.” He claims this is based on investigations by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
The UK exports more to the US than any other country. UK exports to the US were worth £66 billion in 2024; this accounted for 17 per cent of all UK goods exports.
As before, the new tariff regime will impose a 10 percent duty on goods imported from the UK to the US. This is paid for by the importer on the US side, but has a huge knock-on effect on UK businesses as demand falls on the US side.
However, there will also be new product exemptions as part of the changes, meaning they will work differently than before in some sectors.
Here’s what the new tariffs mean for the UK:
How might this affect prices in the UK?
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It is very important that the USA provides exemptions for whiskey and medical products within the scope of the new tariff plan.
Whiskey producers welcomed the change, with tariffs greatly affecting US sales. The Scotch Whiskey Association (SWA) calculated that last year the industry lost around £4 million a week due to tariffs.
Ian Duddy, international director of the Scotch Whiskey Association, said: “The return of duty-free trade for Scotch whiskey in the US is welcome news for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
“With Scotch whisky’s most valuable global market worth £933 million by 2025, removing tariffs provides greater confidence to invest, boost exports and support jobs and communities in Scotland and the US.”
The current 10 percent tariff on medical devices will also be eliminated. As UK medical device exports to the US total over £115 million annually, a 10 per cent duty would add an estimated £12 million to supply chain costs. Medicines were already exempt in previous tariffs.
As a result, UK consumers may benefit from both of these sectors reducing product prices over time, or at least increasing prices more slowly, as the underlying pressure on them is removed.
But in both cases, the brunt of the economic impact was actually felt by those in the United States. Higher import tariffs generally mean higher operating costs for U.S. importers and higher prices on imported products for U.S. consumers.
The effect the Trump administration hopes this will have will not be to raise large amounts of funds, but to change consumer behavior in the United States by increasing demand for American-made products.
While this may not have an immediate and significant impact for UK households, President Trump’s decision to make his tariffs permanent means businesses will need to account for the costs and losses resulting from this.
UK exports of physical goods to the US fell 10.3 per cent from 2024 to 2025, from £66.5bn to £59.7bn; This means a loss of £6.8 billion. Last year also saw that the UK’s goods trade surplus of £8.5 billion with the USA in 2024 would turn into a goods trade deficit of £957 million in 2025.
In response to the latest US tariffs, a government spokesperson said: “There is no change to the tariff rate faced by UK businesses as a result of this announcement.
“The UK imposes a 10 per cent tariff and the privileged access guaranteed under our agreement with the US remains in place.
“We take forced labor very seriously and are ensuring that businesses in UK global supply chains are not complicit in forced labor and human rights abuses.
“The US has recognized the steps taken by the UK, so there are no additional tariffs for the UK under this announcement.”
