Britain is bracing for Donald Trump‘s steel tariffs today as Keir Starmer vows a ‘cool-headed approach’.

The 25 per cent levies on steel and aluminium – branded ‘beautiful’ by the US president – are due to take effect tomorrow.

The PM is understood to have brought up the issue during a call with Mr Trump last night, but so far there is no sign of the UK getting an exemption.

Government officials have indicated there is not likely to be any immediate retaliation if the action goes ahead. 

Markets have been gripped by panic over the outlook for the global economy as the White House runs riot. The FTSE 100 was down by more than 1 per cent today – although it has largely escaped the huge plunges on US indexes such as the Nasdaq.

In his latest escalation this afternoon, Mr Trump doubled his planned tariff on steel and aluminum products from Canada – bringing the total to 50 per cent.

That was in response to the province of Ontario placing a 25 per cent tariff on electricity coming into the US.

The DOW Jones dropped further on the news this afternoon, sitting at its lowest level since September.   

As well as Canada, Mexico and China have been targeted and Mr Trump has threatened the EU and UK.

There is alarm that a global trade war between the world’s largest economies will hammer corporate profits, drive up prices and hit living standards.

Mr Trump refused to rule out a recession in the US over the weekend – sparking the latest wave of turmoil on financial markets.

During Sir Keir’s visit to the US, Mr Trump dropped hints the UK would be spared from the worst of his tariffs, saying the PM had been ‘working hard’ to convince him over lunch. 

The president also said he was hoping for a ‘very good’ Transatlantic trade agreement to avoid the need for levies. 

He set alarm bells ringing by insisting he considered VAT as tax that was causing an imbalance in trade, threatening ‘reciprocal’ tariffs to offset the charge. In fact, VAT is a sales tax. 

Britain exported 166,433 tonnes of steel to the US in 2023, the last full year for which figures are available.

Statistics from trade body UK Steel showed that in 2024 some 162,716 tonnes were sent to the US, but that does not yet include data from December.

The US is the industry’s second-largest export market after the EU, although the Government said it only accounted for 5 per cent of UK steel exports in 2023.

In a post on his Truth Social site today, Mr Trump announced his increased levy on Canada.

‘Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250 per cent to 390 per cent on various US dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous,’ he said. 

‘I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area.’

He also threatened to ‘substantially increase’ tariffs on cars coming into the US on April 2 ‘if other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada’.