Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the trio of recent UK trade deals has “restored our identity” in a “volatile world”, as the Government laid out its new plan to better protect firms from rising threats to global trade.
Since Donald Trump’s tariff announcements in April, the UK has reached new agreements with the US, India and the EU.
Sir Keir said the deals showed “that even in this volatile world, Britain is proudly, unashamedly, defiantly even, open for business, and today’s trade strategy builds on that”.
The Government’s Trade Strategy aims to boost opportunities for UK businesses, particularly in the service sector, to export internationally, and vows to protect domestic firms from global threats to free trade.
It comes at a time of heightened uncertainty following Donald Trump’s tariff announcements in April, which have hiked charges on most US imports in a bid to boost home-grown production and support US businesses.
In the paper, ministers pledge to “confront the threat that protectionism poses to the UK by significantly upgrading our trade defence toolkit”.
This includes clamping down on unfair trading practices, such as the “dumping” of goods at low costs in foreign markets, which is believed to disadvantage domestic businesses.
In the wake of the tariff announcements, some British retailers raised concerns that Chinese products were being rerouted from the US and deposited on UK and European online marketplaces like Shein and Amazon.
Meanwhile, the strategy outlines measures to make it easier for UK firms to export, including reducing barriers to trading overseas and improving access to finance.
Sir Keir suggested he would pursue a series of small deals rather than solely focusing on major trade agreements with countries.
“But perhaps most importantly, in this uncertain and challenging world, we will also give ourselves new powers on trade defence,” he said.
“To make sure that if your businesses are threatened by practices like dumping, that we have the right powers to defend you.”
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “The UK is an open trading nation but we must reconcile this with a new geopolitical reality and work in our own national interest.
“Our Trade Strategy will sharpen our trade defence so we can ensure British businesses are protected from harm, while also relentlessly pursuing every opportunity to sell to more markets under better terms than before.”
In the plan, the Government pledged to introduce new laws to expand its power to respond to unfair trade practices, guarding under-threat sectors such as steel.
Mr Reynolds said that a “central problem is a lot of global overcapacity, mainly coming from China, and some associated countries” in relation to steel production.
“If we want a steel industry in any Western European economy we’ve got to take appropriate measures to defend that,” he said.
“We obviously have a relatively smaller steel industry… I’m doing some work on that to make sure it doesn’t get any smaller.”
The Government has said it wants to hear from steel producers and businesses across the supply chain about how future trade measures and safeguards should be shaped.
Mr Reynolds stressed that leaders would “not sit by idly while cheap imports threaten to undercut UK industry”.
