3 April 2025, 17:47

By Mykola Kuzmin

This April brought an unexpected blow when the White House imposed a ten percent tariff on all UK goods under emergency powers.

Even though it is half the rate aimed at the European Union, it still felt like a painful jolt.

The United States is Britain’s largest export partner. President Trump now wants more access for American beef and the elimination of the UK’s digital services tax, both framed as conditions for economic cooperation.

Darren Spinck, associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, offers a different reading of these developments. In his upcoming report, ‘Advancing the US UK Special Relationship During the Second Trump Presidency’. He argues that these tariffs are not intended as punishment but as a calculated starting point for a new round of negotiations.

Spinck explains that the baseline reciprocal tariffs, imposed on much........

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