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UK businesses are facing uncertainty and higher costs as Donald Trump’s new global tariff hike is set to take effect from Tuesday.
Governments worldwide have been scrambling for information since Friday when the US Supreme Court struck down his “Liberation Day” tariffs policy, and the president announced a temporary tax of 15% on imports into the US from all countries.
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Many British businesses are in the same position, now fearing higher costs to bring their products into America.
“Clarity is now urgently required on how UK exports will be treated on arrival into the United States”, said manufacturing industry trade body Make UK.
From Tuesday morning, UK exporters will be subject to a 15% tariff, higher than the 10% agreed under a UK-US deal back in May.
“Unless we hear otherwise from the US, we are looking at a further 5% hike for many goods from 5am GMT, tomorrow. However, the nature of the legislation the US is using means it is difficult to give the UK a carve-out,” said the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) on Monday.
UK exporters and manufacturers “are now staring down the barrel at higher costs”, the organisation said.
What’s happening?
Mr Trump said over the weekend, after hitting out against the court ruling on Friday, that he would impose a 15% tariff rate on all countries instead.
That was up from the 10% he had announced a day earlier.
The policy, under a US law known as section 122, limits such action to 150 days’ duration. If the statute is to be extended, Congressional approval must be obtained.
It had been unclear whether this 15% rate would…
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