On 3 April 2025, the UK Government published a consultation on the impact of any future tariffs on UK imports from the US. The consultation followed an announcement by the UK Trade Secretary in Parliament that the UK Government is considering “every option” in response to US President Trump’s imposition of “Liberation Day” import tariffs on the UK of 10%. For further details regarding the announcement of these tariffs and the global impact, please see our blog post here.
UK Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has stated that the UK Government is still in talks with the US administration to reach a trade agreement between the countries. However, the consultation has been launched to consider measures that the UK Government could take in response to the US tariffs. The announcement notes that if a trade agreement is reached, then the consultation would be paused and any tariffs lifted.
As part of the consultation, the UK Government is seeking views on products that could potentially be included in any UK tariff response and has published an indicative list of potential products from which the UK Government is most likely to draw from in developing any future tariffs. The list contains a very broad range of products, including (amongst others) certain live animals, food products, raw materials, manufacturing/building materials, and fabrics and clothing. The list includes the relevant combined nomenclature (CN code) to identify items – the full list can be found here.
Consultation responses are due by 11:59pm on 1 May 2025.
