Starmer said that a future trade deal with the US might lead to the UK getting some exemptions from the tariffs

Keir Starmer has dismissed claims that he has been “played” by President Trump over tariffs.

In an interview with Sky News this morning, echoing what Jonathan Reynolds said in his morning interview round (see 8.58am), Starmer said that a future trade deal with the US might lead to the UK getting some exemptions from the tariffs coming tomorrow. He said:

We are of course negotiating an economic deal which will, I hope … mitigate the tariffs.

The US is our closest ally. Our defence, our security, our intelligence are bound up in a way that no two other countries are.

So it’s obviously in our national interest to have a close working relationship with the US, which we’ve had for decades, and I want to ensure we have for decades to come.

We are obviously working with the sectors most impacted at pace on that.

Nobody wants to see a trade war but I have to act in the national interests.

We’re going to have very difficult local elections. These local elections are not going to be fun for the Conservative party, because the last time we fought them was in 2021 with Boris Johnson, when there was a vaccine bounce just after Covid. So we are going to have a tough time.