Trump’s erratic tariffs harder to navigate than pandemic, says UK export agency
The government agency responsible for supporting UK exporters has warned that uncertainty created by Donald Trump’s rapidly shifting tariff policies is making it difficult to predict the financial fallout for British businesses.Tim Reid, the chief executive of UK Export Finance (UKEF), said the US president’s escalating trade war posed a unprecedented challenge.UKEF is no stranger to a crisis.It was established in 1919 to help firms hit by the submarine blockade after the first world war.A century later, it mobilised to get government-backed loans and financial support to companies whose revenues were upended by supply chain disruptions during the Covid pandemic.
“We’re clearly in a very changing world,” Reid, a former HSBC banker, told the Guardian.He said the near-daily shifts in US trade policy made it difficult to estimate how many UK businesses, and what proportion of their exports, could be at risk.“We don’t have that yet … is the honest answer, because we don’t know exactly where this dialogue [on tariffs] is going to progress,” he said.UK companies exporting goods to the US will face tariffs of at least 10%, while exporters of steel, aluminium and cars have been hit with a 25% rate.But there will also be indirect impacts, including for those companies that rely on global supply chains passing through the EU, China and the US, with suppliers raising prices on parts and raw materials to recoup higher tariffs elsewhere.
The US has so far applied a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, prompting a 125% retaliatory tariff by Beijing,It is unclear whether the removal of a “de-minimis exemption”, meaning shipments from China worth less than $800 (£600) will no longer enter into the US duty-free, will apply to goods shipped via the UK,Reid, who spent 34 years at HSBC before joining UKEF in 2022, said it had been easier to prepare for the fallout of the pandemic,“There was an immediate disruption to business models,That was very clear during Covid … there is still a lot of uncertainty right now in terms of the impact of this changing world.
”UKEF has deployed its 25 regional agents to support at-risk businesses even while it awaits further clarity on US trade policy.Last week, UK ministers announced an extra £20bn of financing through UKEF, including state-backed loans programmes, in which the government promises to shoulder 80% of the losses if borrowers fail to repay their debts.It is meant to encourage banks to keep lending to businesses, even if tariffs make it more likely companies could default.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionMinisters are hammering out the details of a “fast-track” scheme that will help get £10bn of that support to businesses hit by Trump tariffs.“There are levers we can pull” without sacrificing “high standards” around the amount of risk the government is willing to take, Reid said.
That could mean allocating more staff to sift through and approve applications, and generally removing red tape that could cut down wait times.Trump has put on hold further planned increases to tariffs to most countries until July.But Reid said UKEF was pushing ahead.“We’re not waiting 90 days … we will be ready to work through this in pretty short order,” Reid said.
From kumquats to lime caviar: UK foodies embrace a whole new world of citrus
When life gives you pithy cedro lemons and sweet Tacle mandarins, what exactly do you make with them?British chefs and home cooks are increasingly embracing new and unusual varieties of citrus in recipes, with supermarkets and greengrocers offering a rising number of speciality fruits. Retailers like M&S now offer punnets of kumquats, while Waitrose has reported a 27% rise in sales of yuzu juice.Riverford, which offers boxes of organic produce for home delivery, has noticed a similar trend. The company has seen steady sales of kumquats, with sub-varieties and hybrids like Tacle mandarins (a cross between a clementine and a Tarocco orange) and Ruby Valencias (which have the sweetness of orange but the flavour of grapefruit) performing especially well.“It’s generally unknown just how much variety there is in shape, size, flavour, and use of citrus,” said Dale Robinson at Riverford
Notes on chocolate: elegant treats for when the Easter eggs are gone
It’s Easter and this seems the right time to be talking about Christmas. Only joking! I’ll not be eating very much chocolate today because, see past columns and just how much Easter chocolate I have tested.My big weakness at the moment is Luisa’s Sicilian Orange. Although for Easter this came in a flat egg or bunny shape (both were £10.50), it’s the bijou bar I really love, £5
Dove, London: ‘inventive, unusual, tantalising’ – restaurant review
The designer Bella Freud waxes lyrical over a relaxed, elegant lunch with a fabulous friendDove, 31 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2EU (020 7043 1400; dove.london). Starters £4-£16; mains £12-£33; wine from £35I am a potentially dull person to eat with. However much I love and relish food, food is not my friend and I have a host of verbotens, ranging from garlic, onion and chives, which for me are headache-inducing, to butter, which I have always hated. Each meal in a new restaurant where I’m not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the menu begins, “Do you have anything without garlic?” My meal might end up seeming plain to an onlooker, but this plainness divulges so many nuanced flavours – a grilled chop floods my nervous system with relaxing endorphins
Mediterranean producers unite in the face of dire adversity
Waitrose No.1 Castillo Perelada Cava Brut, Spain NV (£11.99, Waitrose) At a time when the world is being pulled apart by aggressively idiotic nationalism, examples of multinational cooperation, however small, can feel particularly precious and poignant. Nowhere more so, perhaps, than in the Mediterranean, where the savagery of war in the east and the brutality of border enforcement in the north make a nihilistic mockery of the very idea of togetherness. At their inaugural event in Catalonia’s Empordà last month, the organisers of the Mediterranean Wine Symposium hoped to offer at least some sense of a different world of pan-regional collaboration, however
TikTok trend for ‘Dubai chocolate’ causes international shortage of pistachios
Product promotion on TikTok is now powerful enough to influence the vast agricultural economies of the US and Iran – at least when it comes to the consumption of high-end confectionery.A chocolate bar stuffed with a creamy green pistachio filling has become incredibly popular after a series of video clips shared on the social media site. The first bit of footage praising the taste of the expensive so-called “Dubai chocolate” was posted at the end of 2023 and has now been viewed more than 120m times, to say nothing of the many follow-up videos.The result has been an international shortage of the vital ingredient, pistachio kernels, which are largely grown in either the US or Iran. In a year, prices have surged from $7
‘It’s less intimidating, less vulnerable’: why cooking in company helps us to talk
On the day after Boxing Day last year, my dad and I went to buy some cabbage. My aunt and cousins were joining us for dinner that evening and we had a meal to prepare. The local supermarket was closed and the cabbage, sourced from an Italian deli around the corner, was obscenely overpriced. In a bind, we bought some anyway and headed back home to begin cooking. Standing around the kitchen island chopping and peeling vegetables, preparing a rib of beef and assembling a side dish of dauphinoise potatoes, we listened to music and chatted
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