I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone, and particularly our friends in America, a happy Liberation Day.

Apologies if you haven’t heard of this special date until recently. It has been quite the rush job pulling this historic occasion together, but the White House is now raring to go. Liberation Day will be launched in the Rose Garden with all the theatricality the big ham that is Donald Trump can bring to bear tomorrow.

Finally, the world will find out what tariffs he is set to impose on goods entering America. Detail will be everything. Will it be a blanket imposition of tariffs or will there be different rates for different states? Will tariffs start now or at some future date? And how about exemptions? What is the special relationship worth in cold, hard, cash terms these days?

Not a lot, if Downing Street’s dampening of expectations is to be believed. Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly told the Cabinet there won’t be a “carve out” for the UK. There might be one in future though, so the British government needs to carry on playing nice with the President. Rachel Reeves, whose £9.9 billion of headroom, clawed together in the Spring statement, will be wiped out by a 20% increase in tariffs, will just have to false grin and bear it, like the rest of them.

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If the UK........

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