Donald Trump has launched a senseless, destructive trade war that threatens the jobs and living standards of people here in the UK, in the United States, and around the world.
Trump loves tariffs – he even says it’s “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”! But as Liberals, we profoundly disagree. Don’t forget: it was the Victorian Liberals who overturned centuries of protectionism and ushered in a new era of free trade and prosperity.
The goal for us as Liberals – the champions of free trade – has to be ending this trade war as quickly as possible. We need to get Trump to drop his tariffs, and more broadly turn the world away from a path towards nationalism and isolationism that ultimately harms us all.
So how do we do that? We have consistently argued that you have to deal with Trump from a position of strength. He’s a bully, and you don’t handle a bully by appeasing them – by being nice and hoping they won’t hurt you.
That’s why we’re so worried by Labour offering to water down Britain’s online safety laws and cut taxes on the social media giants – just to appease Trump and his Co-President, Elon Musk. It’s wrong, and it won’t work.
The same goes for the Conservatives and Reform, who think we should undermine the UK’s high animal welfare and food safety standards to get Trump to sign a trade deal with us. They would even let US billionaires buy up our NHS.
We know the truth: no deal with Donald Trump will truly protect us from his tariffs. His signature isn’t worth a thing – as proven by him slapping huge tariffs on Canada, just a few years after signing a trade deal with them. At the time, he called that deal “fantastic”, but he’s already broken it.
We have to stand up to Trump. That means bringing our Commonwealth and European allies together in an economic “coalition of the willing” against his tariffs. It means strengthening our own economy, by securing a much better trade deal with the European Union, including a customs union by 2030 – something only the Liberal Democrats are calling for.
And it means backing brilliant local businesses here in the UK, to protect jobs and livelihoods in the face of Trump’s destructive trade war. Hence the “Buy local, back Britain” campaign we have launched, which has already secured widespread support across the country and across the political spectrum.
Supporting local British businesses isn’t about boycotting things from other countries or opposing free trade. It’s not about never buying American – but it might mean choosing a bottle of Glenfiddich instead of a Jack Daniel’s. It’s about strengthening our economy, standing up to Trump and pressuring him to end his trade war.
If we don’t – if we just let Trump carry on the way he is – we could lose the hard-won fight for free trade for a generation.
We call on the Government to negotiate a new deal with the EU, forming a new UK-EU Customs Union by 2030 at the latest.
The UK must once again stand tall, leading on the world stage and working closely with those who share our interests – including, above all, our partners in Europe.