Dale speaks to Westminster correspondent Alexander Brown who brings us up to date on the latest from Donald Trump's tariff changes
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Thursday.
00:04My name's Dale Miller.
00:05I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our Westminster correspondent, Alexander Brown.
00:11Alex, it is not Liberation Day.
00:14Maybe it's Un-Liberation Day.
00:16We're going to be talking about Donald Trump's tariffs and it features on the front page of today's Scotsman market soar.
00:24As Trump backs down over tariffs for 90 days, he announced a fall for 90 days on the tariffs that have been dealt to virtually all nations bar China and he lifted the tariff rate to 125% against China, arguing that they effectively had to deal with the fallout of retaliating directly against the US over their existing tariffs.
00:53It was interesting to note that the EU was also coming down to the standard 10% rate, despite it also indicating that it intended to retaliate as well.
01:05Watch this face.
01:06We're going to see more developing on Donald Trump throughout today and over the coming days.
01:11And Alex, we're going to talk about this.
01:14What's prompted it at the end of the day?
01:16We've sort of sat here for a number of days.
01:18We've seen the markets tumble.
01:20Why did Trump announce that he was pausing tariffs for most countries yesterday?
01:26I think probably due to the economic and political backlash that surpassed everything he expected yesterday.
01:34The president was doing a series of posts, you know, stand strong.
01:38Tariffs are going to stay for the good of America.
01:41A few hours later, stay strong, everybody.
01:43We're doing the right thing.
01:44A few hours later, lots of we're going to start building again.
01:47And everyone's coming here as long as companies like Apple have their factories here.
01:51Everything will be good.
01:53And then he announced the U-turn.
01:55It's a real it's a major U-turn.
01:59But I think the problem is with Donald Trump, nothing like this ever really matters.
02:03And it's it's only a pause.
02:04And I think it's from our perspective, while the tariffs have paused for other countries, it's the greater tariffs.
02:12So that flat 10 percent is still in place.
02:15So all over the world, countries are still going to have to spend more.
02:18There will still be job losses.
02:20There will still be damage to businesses, especially British businesses.
02:23It's just not the scale that was perhaps expected before.
02:26Similarly, the 25 percent tariff on automobiles, that's in place as well.
02:32So actually, the Tories are on the broadcast around this morning saying this shows that Starmer's charm offensive didn't work.
02:40And the UK actually hasn't benefited at all from this latest announcement.
02:44It is as you were.
02:45And the others are kind of in the same boat as us.
02:48I think it's also worth noting that the EU has also kind of got away with it because they had talked and planned retaliatory tariffs.
02:56They had said how they've announced how they'd be doing them, but they've not been brought in yet.
03:00So as such, they have also been reduced to the lowest tariff rate.
03:04So it's a really big U-turn, but it's it's a U-turn and a pause.
03:10We don't know what this looks like long term.
03:13Ministers this morning were talking about how it shows the UK's approach is working,
03:17that they've gone soft on it, that they're waiting and working behind the scenes on things.
03:21But there has been no real progress yet.
03:25We still don't know when the trade deal is going to be announced.
03:27And the top line is there is no benefit to the UK from this announcement.
03:31We are being hit just as hard as we were before.
03:34Alex, I'm going to put a hypothetical hat on for a second and argue that this was all part of the negotiation from Donald Trump in the first place.
03:43Did he really just want to install the 10% across all countries?
03:48But he wanted countries to feel relieved that they got away with the 10%.
03:53Thus, it sticks and he can deliver some, well, what he views as immediate economic benefit for the US and perhaps send a message to China as he has in the process.
04:04Is this all part of what the strategy was going to be in the first place?
04:08What do you think?
04:09No, and I think that is perhaps overestimating his business acumen, despite his writing of The Art of a Deal,
04:18which I think the White House press secretary was referencing to reporters asking about the strategy, saying,
04:23have you not read that?
04:24It's all in there.
04:27The problem is tariffs are not beneficial to an economy.
04:30They do not help.
04:32Announcing 10% tariffs on every other country and then being relieved doesn't suddenly mean that
04:36the costs of that 10% tariff isn't going to be felt by companies both in the US and outside it because the cost is passed on to the consumer.
04:45Your product goes up by 10% and we have seen that that never goes to the company.
04:49That has always a cost that's eaten by the consumer and that's what's going to happen for Americans.
04:53Their goods are being boycotted in Canada, wider field than that.
04:58And the idea of things being sold to America, it's too expensive.
05:02I mean, you talk about, like, for example, Nike.
05:05I think 50% of Nike's products are made in Vietnam.
05:08The tariffs they're announced on Vietnam were so large.
05:12I mean, it was going to cost billions more for Nike who are a company that are on the American trade stage.
05:19I think since his U-turns, a trillion has gone to the top 10 biggest companies.
05:23They've gone up in value.
05:25So I don't think it's a clever strategy.
05:29I think it's trying to throw his weight around and realizing that actually when other countries are working together,
05:35those blocs still have power.
05:37And politically, it was costing him.
05:40Republicans were losing faith in it.
05:41I think Elon Musk as well calling for a zero-tariff situation.
05:45So it may have been that strategy, but that's not what's working.
05:49It's still a cost to the U.S. and those products.
05:52There's a good opinion piece from Paul Wilson today that you can read at scotsman.com around Elon Musk.
06:00Was he actually on board and did he even know what the strategy from Donald Trump is?
06:06You can read that under our opinion tab on the homepage.
06:08Alex, you've also written about Grangemouth.
06:10We know there's some discussions around potential nationalization around British steel.
06:17And there's now a plea or a call for Grangemouth to be revisited off the back of that.
06:23Yeah, the SNP have said that all options should be considered.
06:27That if British steel is of strategic national importance, Grangemouth should be as well.
06:31And they've said that they'd like the UK government to look at nationalizing it.
06:35I think it was interesting speaking to ministers and insiders in the government, government figures last night.
06:43And actually this morning about that piece, who thought it was pretty laughable, really.
06:48They were very critical of the SNP's comments and said it was a typical SNP.
06:53They're calling for nationalization, but nationalization of what?
06:56Just nationalization of one individual refinery, because that's not how it works.
07:02They said, what would a plan look like?
07:04What would it mean to nationalize it?
07:05What does that look like in terms of jobs?
07:07What does that look like in terms of government funding?
07:09And the argument was, actually, it's not having a plan.
07:12It's an easy way to score points to criticize the UK government without actually coming up with solutions themselves.
07:19So, you know, it's interesting.
07:22I mean, Brian Nishman, the Arias MP, also wants it to be nationalized, but he wants it to be part of a wider approach of pro-nationalization, which I'm not sure is where the SNP are quite at yet.
07:32So the piece is interesting.
07:34Obviously, the SNP feel like they can.
07:37It's fertile ground for them to talk about net zero and say that supporting workers has to be a part of it.
07:43They're trying to fudge their own approach to net zero as well, especially on the North Sea.
07:47So it's just mudslinging, really.
07:50There's not a coherent plan in place.
07:53It's just everyone's trying to craft their own narrative.
07:56You can read stories on what we've spoken about at scotsman.com.
08:00Our business correspondent, Scott Reid, has done an analysis of what's happening with the markets as well, particularly with things like the FTSE 100 rebounding strongly.
08:11That's at scotsman.com.
08:15Follow us on all social media and pick up a copy of tomorrow's paper where you'll get the latest on the tariff situation.
08:22Thanks, Alex.
08:23Thanks to everyone else.
08:24Thanks, Alex.
08:25Thanks, Alex.
08:26Thanks, Alex.
08:27Thanks, Alex.
08:28Thanks, Alex.
08:29Thanks, Alex.
08:30Thanks, Alex.
08:31Thanks, Alex.
08:32Thanks, Alex.
08:33Thanks, Alex.
08:34Thanks, Alex.
08:35Thanks, Alex.
08:36Thanks, Alex.
08:37Thanks, Alex.
08:38Thanks, Alex.
08:39Thanks, Alex.
08:40Thanks, Alex.
08:41Thanks, Alex.
08:42Thanks, Alex.
08:43Thanks, Alex.
08:44Thanks, Alex.
08:45Thanks, Alex.
08:46Thanks, Alex.
08:47Thanks, Alex.
08:48Thanks, Alex.
08:49Thanks, Alex.
08:50Thanks, Alex.
08:51Thanks, Alex.
08:52Thanks, Alex.