Thousands of local jobs could be at risk as US tariffs hit the UK automotive and steel industries. Can government measures prevent long-term economic damage? Thousands of local jobs could be at risk as US tariffs hit the UK automotive and steel industries. Can government measures prevent long-term economic damage?
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00:00The British car industry in the last century has been a great success story.
00:04We've invented some wonderful models.
00:07We used to effectively own most of the great marks, if you like.
00:11Although, of course, in America we had Ford and Chrysler.
00:15But, of course, in the 1980s we saw imports in Japan.
00:20I set that in context because, of course, ownership of British car manufacturing has markedly shifted.
00:25And, indeed, the biggest maker we have is Jaguar Land Rover, which is largely based in the Midlands.
00:34Now, in terms of whether this impacts the 25% increase in tariffs on British cars is going to affect them,
00:41there can be no doubt that, of course, those who are going to buy what's regarded as a premium model may think twice.
00:48So, of course, that could undermine the Jaguar Land Rover because, of course, a large number,
00:53or something like a quarter of the sort of models they produce, go to America.
00:57So, it's a significant contributor to their bottom line.
01:00And, indeed, the thing about car production is if you can't meet the bottom line and you can't make profit,
01:06then, of course, you disappear.
01:07Well, the new tariffs are also being felt in other sectors closely tied to the automotive industry.
01:14British Steel recently proposed closing blast furnaces in Scunthorpe,
01:19demonstrating the potential ripple effect across manufacturing.
01:23As factories scale back operations, other local businesses supplying parts and raw materials may soon begin to face similar pressures.
01:32What people always tend to immediately think of is the sort of the actual manufacturer.
01:37But, of course, what they often tend to forget is the supply chain of sort of producers.
01:41So, of course, that can have a sort of, if you like, a sort of knock on impact.
01:45The government insists that immediate measures such as easing electric vehicle production rules
01:50will buy essential time for the industry.
01:53They hope this flexibility allows manufacturers to adapt and safeguard employment,
01:59providing stability while ongoing negotiations with the US administration attempt to ease or remove these tariffs.
02:07So, yeah, it may be that sort of the government decide it's the sort of the best defence in this occasion is to sort of have some sort of tariffs.
02:15Indeed, we've seen intervention in sort of recent years in many ways.
02:18Of course, I think about Covid in particular.
02:20You do things to sort of protect jobs in the short term in the hope that, dare I say,
02:24some sanity returns and we get sort of back to sort of where we used to be,
02:28which, of course, is about free trade.