- Original Poster
- #1
I heard all over LBC that this trump speech was gonna announce some crazy tariffs etc, did he? if so, how will it affect us SMEs?
How will Trump tariffs affect us then?
- Thread starter ThatDevAaron
- Start date
Yes, 10% tariffs on all imports into US from UK (on top of steel and car tariffs already in place?). More for goods from many other countries. Anybody acting as the importer into US will have to pay the tariffs. B2B US importing customers will have to pay the tariffs. The kicker is how quickly the tariffs will get implemented; 5th April. Many businesses have contracts already established; this is going to completely screw with set budgets for those. It will be carnage; most of the US have little clue about global trade. We shall see what happens.
The logic and maths appear to have been calculated in an insane asylum. They have put 10% on a country that they have determined puts anywhere between 0% and 20% "tariffs" on imports from US. They have determined that the UK puts 10% "tariffs" on imports from US. If the UK were to have set this as much as 20%, the magic Trump tariff calculator would not have increase the "reciprocal" tariffs just announced. Mention has been made lots by Trump of VAT being justification, and yet apparently not understanding that VAT is a consumer tax applied on (nearly) all sold goods, both imported and domestically produced, and so does not directly give any penalty to imported goods over domestic. VAT is not an import tax, it's a consumer sales tax (that gets applied to an import if it is a sale to a consumer).
Not sure I understand your logic its called "reciprocal" for a reason we charge the US 10% on all imports, he's now doing the same back is that not fair then.
It seems to me the US are taking back control of their country shame our government don't do the same here instead of curtailing free speech and taxing us all into oblivion
It seems to me the US are taking back control of their country shame our government don't do the same here instead of curtailing free speech and taxing us all into oblivion
I watched the whole thing live not sure why you think they crazy perhaps you could enlighten
How is is going to affect me? Probably not at all.
10%??? Strange it is so exact when we have different tariffs on different products. Oh, look, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Singapore, Turkey, Colombia, Peru, UAE, etc, etc all charge exactly 10% on US imports, too. What a massive coincidence. It's BS. The main damage is caused by tariffs changing by such a massive amount within a week. There is no justification for that. It's just intentional harm to other countries.
No idea where you are but it will affect you. Higher tariffs = less sold from UK = less profit for small businesses in UK = lower employment/wages and less tax revenue. Less tax revenue means pressure to increase tax percentage for all, including you.
According to the BBC only 10% of the cars made in the UK are exported to the US. Hardly a doom and gloom prediction of devastation.
Markets will adapt and change focus. Things are not going to be as bad as everyone makes out.
I might have some sympathy with that view if the 'tariffs' allegedly charged by other countries had any basis in fact.
For every country, the USA has taken its trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country’s exports to the USA
So the USA has a $17.9 billion trade deficit with Indonesia. Their exports to the USA are $28 billion. $17.9/$28 = 64%, which Trump claims is the tariff rate Indonesia charges the USA. Which is extraordinary nonsense.
We have an alleged tariff of 10%, the EU has a tariff of 39%. Yet we and the EU charge VAT at roughly the same rate and Trump insists that VAT is a tariff. So how can our figure be so different from The EU figure?
It is insane nonsense.
Except that we don't.
And actually, we don't charge "the US" anything. We charge the company or individuals who are importing the products.
I can think of an easy way to mitigate that. The US is just one market. We could join a market that is even larger than the US and increase our exports to there. If only there was such a market somewhere, preferably nearby, that we could join.
All these countries falling over themselves to NOT retaliate in case they can get exemptions makes me sick. They're deluding themselves. That's the only language Trump seems to understand - look at what Ontario did, threatened to put 50% tariffs on energy exported to the US, and took US products off the shelves, Trump backed down.
Do we want more American goods in the UK? Hormone treated beef, anyone?
Do we want more American goods in the UK? Hormone treated beef, anyone?
I would like to see much better labelling of the origin of food, particularly on processed and fast food. If food is well labelled then people have a choice. I mostly buy local meat, but where that is not possible, I buy British.
Which is the bit Trump doesn’t appear to understand. We don’t want their chemically enhanced chlorinated chicken and plastic cheese.
How many people on this forum export physical products to the USA?
My guess is very few, if any.
Trumps tariffs have been badly calculated, they'll be dropped/revised but his goal makes sense and probably wont change.
My guess is very few, if any.
Trumps tariffs have been badly calculated, they'll be dropped/revised but his goal makes sense and probably wont change.
Therein lies the problem. Trump believes that everyone should be made to live the way the low-paid live in the US. We don't want chlorinated chicked, hormone filled beef or palsic cheese because we haven't been made to want them. All it needs is a decent advertising campaign.
Trump wants the USD to devalue in order to grow industry in the US. These ironically named "Liberation Day" tariffs are a way in which he raises effective taxation on US citizens (the poorer will be the worse off as they spend a higher percentage of income on goods) while also damaging other countries.
And a change in legislation. Most of the US foods Trump want to sell us are banned in the UK because of safety concerns.
That is why Starmer's stupid plans to get a trade deal with the US are so dangerous - The Us will demand we change our regulations to accomodate their products. A lot of people have to buy by price and will choose US dangerous foods because they can afford them.
Me. Around a third of my (micro) business. I have just started having stuff (small consumer electronics) made in China which are now going to be hit by 54% tarrifs.
Where and what do you mean? Remember that the biggest money wins on advertising battles. Also, the lower the level of critical thinking ability and education, the more advertising/propaganda works.
What a silly idea - that would never work!
Anyway, the USA is the biggest market in the world! It is the most beautiful and best market and #1 at everything, even the things it isn't #1 in!
Starmer has actually been doing quite a good job of walking a diplomatic tightrope by feeding Trump's narcissistic personality disorder (and forcing him to actually read some information - the King's invitation - on camera, was hilarious). Saying that you are trying to work towards a trade agreement is simply saying that you want to stay friends. It burns no bridges.
BTW, you have to love that comment he made (there were soooo many) about Japan not buying any US cars. THEY DRIVE ON THE LEFT, like we do!!!!!
But why not?
It's not chlorinated chicken, it's chlorine washed chicken, which is just one method of ensuring it's safe to eat. The same chlorine that ensures your drinking water is safe to drink, and those bags of salad leaves from supermarkets are safe to eat.
But I would agree it should be clearly labelled. Consumers can then make their choice.
Much ado about very little!
In "The Art of the Deal" The Donald's ghostwriter stated that you throw a hand grenade into a room, close the door and wait for it to go off. THEN you walk in and begin to negotiate!
This was the hand grenade. Now, various governments are having to take the situation seriously and actually begin to negotiate.
All these economists screaming "Armageddon!" and really shouting "Armageddon it wrong again!"
The reality of tariffs is that the supply chain from, say China to the US, is that the goods pass through many hands - the manufacturer to the export agent to the forwarder to the importer to the wholesaler to the retailer. (OK, maybe not quite that many, but you get the idea!) If the importer finds themselves having to cough up an import tariff, they will kick at having to feed so many mouths.
Each step along the way gets either less of a cut or fee or gets eliminated.
The whole chain gets pushed together, a bit like an accordion. The pressure to do so comes from the consumer or whoever the final purchaser is. And the final purchaser must also take a minor hit and de-trouser a slightly higher price. So, yes, tariffs are inflationary - but at nowhere nearly to the extent that many economists and idiot politicians are wailing about!
Just like government, there is always some fat that can be shed. The US consumer stops buying expensive kitchen machines from Nef and buys almost the same machine from the parent company, Bosch. Rinse and repete for Einhell and Parkside. Customers put price pressure on the suppliers and they are forced to react.
Trump is trying to restructure the entire world's trading system, using a series of hand grenades. He is also trying to eliminate US waste and he regards 84,000 troops stationed in Europe as waste. Surely, he says to himself, the defense of Europe is Europe's job! The geo-political European structure we have right now is a post-WW2 construct and he wants to change it.
He also wants to change the way countries like Germany and France (and many others) have carefully structured their markets and industries to prevent imports and competition.
Where will this all lead? We shall see! Perhaps he can change the world - but I have my severe doubts. So perhaps it is merely "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
In "The Art of the Deal" The Donald's ghostwriter stated that you throw a hand grenade into a room, close the door and wait for it to go off. THEN you walk in and begin to negotiate!
This was the hand grenade. Now, various governments are having to take the situation seriously and actually begin to negotiate.
All these economists screaming "Armageddon!" and really shouting "Armageddon it wrong again!"
The reality of tariffs is that the supply chain from, say China to the US, is that the goods pass through many hands - the manufacturer to the export agent to the forwarder to the importer to the wholesaler to the retailer. (OK, maybe not quite that many, but you get the idea!) If the importer finds themselves having to cough up an import tariff, they will kick at having to feed so many mouths.
Each step along the way gets either less of a cut or fee or gets eliminated.
The whole chain gets pushed together, a bit like an accordion. The pressure to do so comes from the consumer or whoever the final purchaser is. And the final purchaser must also take a minor hit and de-trouser a slightly higher price. So, yes, tariffs are inflationary - but at nowhere nearly to the extent that many economists and idiot politicians are wailing about!
Just like government, there is always some fat that can be shed. The US consumer stops buying expensive kitchen machines from Nef and buys almost the same machine from the parent company, Bosch. Rinse and repete for Einhell and Parkside. Customers put price pressure on the suppliers and they are forced to react.
Trump is trying to restructure the entire world's trading system, using a series of hand grenades. He is also trying to eliminate US waste and he regards 84,000 troops stationed in Europe as waste. Surely, he says to himself, the defense of Europe is Europe's job! The geo-political European structure we have right now is a post-WW2 construct and he wants to change it.
He also wants to change the way countries like Germany and France (and many others) have carefully structured their markets and industries to prevent imports and competition.
Where will this all lead? We shall see! Perhaps he can change the world - but I have my severe doubts. So perhaps it is merely "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
You do know that some American cars are made with right hand drive, like the ones we buy?
Your comment would have more gravitas if the tariffs were not due to implement just 3days after Trump's announcement. We shall see. Meanwhile, my micro company has a number of exports of goods to the US this month, where our customers are non-profits with fixed budgets.
Which was the point of my reply in answer to the question of who exports to the US. US customers will be hurt, my business will suffer.
Likewise. The biggest damage is the speed of implementation.
Our US science customers are scientists and researchers at non-profit universities (B2B trade), assigned discrete budgets by their usually very inflexible organisations, who may not have budgets to cover the tariff. It's feasible their organisations will cover it more generally, but rapid responses from their authorities are not at all typical. For orders already invoiced, we may have to raise credit notes, effectively selling them 10% less, and give 10% refunds to those who have already paid in order that they have the money to pay the tariff on the remaining goods!
We're hoping the package we have in transit now will arrive before the weekend tariffs. Our goods are high value, perishable, made just in time and largely bespoke. We are urgently contacting our US customers about the issue. The worst thing for us is to have goods stuck in US import limbo, then eventually returned to us (or trashed).
From 2014 - Britain would be poorer than any US state except Mississippi if it joined America
Without the south-east, Britain would be poorer than Mississippi too
Britain would be poorer than any US state except Mississippi if it
Without the south-east, Britain would be poorer than Mississippi too
www.independent.co.uk
From 2023 - Is Mississippi Really as Poor as Britain?
Is Mississippi Really as Poor as Britain?
The question is usually posed the other way around—which is an insult to the dynamic economy of this southern state that is now my home.
You're saying that chlorinated is just another way to clean produce and lots of UK produce goes through some form of processing anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Actually go and look at the chicken though. The US chicken, it comes in tins, it barely even resembles anything edible. It's drenched in cleaning product and chemicals, not lightly sprayed as it comes off the production line, it's a toxic death chicken.
Although chemicals are used in the EU for processing and de-contamination, the quantities are less and you have the option of purchasing organic alternatives...if you can afford to? and that's the other issue, the toxic death chickens are going to be sold to the poor, because they can't afford organic, so they'll get sick, then they'll be barred from medical insurance, because they had no option but to eat the toxic death chicken that, for some reason, lots of British people seem to really want to import. They'd rather screw our farmers over and import this crap! It really gets my goat!
As for the tariffs, it's performative, to get a reaction and force countries to negotiate better rates for the US. The problem, is that nobody wants US rubbish. The cars? They're crap. The food? Rubbish. What do we actually need to import from the US that we can't get from China/Turkey/India/EU?
The chlorine on chicken isn't the issue. It's the way it's used to disguise animal welfare issues earlier in the chain, that do not occur over here.
Similar threads
Latest Articles
-
90,000 jobs are heading your way. Your rates bill might get there firstIf you run a business in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds or Bristol, you were probably told some...- Ozzy
- Updated:
- 8 min read
-
How to Price a New Product or Service: We Asked UKBFOn 5 August, @Data Swami posted in the General Business Forum with a question that ought to have...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
- 7 min read
-
70 years of director bans in six months: Companies House has stopped asking nicelyCompanies House published a release on August 6th 2026 that every company director should read...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
- 7 min read
-
MTD for Income Tax: your first quarterly update is due 7 August.If you are a sole trader or landlord and your gross income from self-employment and property was...- maka
- Updated:
- 4 min read
-
Andy Burnham's Manifesto for Small Business, and How It Stacks Up Against Count BinfaceIf all goes to plan (or rather, to Labour's timetable), Andy Burnham will be sworn in as Prime...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
- 5 min read