Tories: We are in trade war, cool heads must prevail

ODN

The Conservative Party has called for "cool heads" as tensions around Donald Trump's wide-ranging tariffs continue to mount. Shadow Secretary for Scotland Andrew Bowie said "tit-for-tat" tariffs would not be helpful to the UK economy. Bowie also argued "nothing should be off the table" in protecting the country's steel industry.   Report by Faragt. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

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00:00Look, we are in a trade war and it's incredibly disappointing to see some of the retaliatory

00:05moves taken by either the EU or overnight China.

00:09I don't think it's in the UK's national interest to engage in that.

00:12I don't think that a tit-for-tat imposition of tariffs on imports or exports is conducive

00:18to economic prosperity for the country or indeed for the world.

00:21So I think cool heads must prevail and despite the fact I don't have much confidence in this

00:26government's ability to negotiate a better outcome for the UK, that's exactly what they

00:30should be doing and they've got our full support in doing so.

00:32Well look, nothing should be off the table when it comes to ensuring the future of steel

00:37making in this country and indeed the livelihoods of so many people who rely on the steel industry

00:42for their employment and indeed for the economic prosperity of their communities.

00:46But I do think one of the things that they could be looking at is whether or not the

00:49arbitrary net zero targets that this government are fixated on are actually bringing about

00:54the positive impact on this country that they expect, in my view and in the view of

00:58the Conservative Party, is leading to the de-industrialisation of the UK and the lack

01:02of a manufacturing base and indeed what's happening in Scunthorpe as a direct result

01:07of those arbitrary targets and the actions taken by this government.

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