What Trump’s tariffs could mean for UK consumers

Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will put tariffs on goods from around the world, including a 10% charge on UK imports, has signalled the start of a global trade war.Although the UK faces a lower tariff than many other countries, for UK consumers there could still be some fallout. How it all plays out remains unclear.As it stands, the UK has not announced any retaliatory tariffs, so no US imports will leap in price. But if the government does decide to respond in kind, the prices of goods we buy in from the US could go up

Percy Pig’s US adventure may be short-lived as M&S responds to Trump tariffs

Percy Pig’s US invasion could be called to a halt amid fears that Donald Trump’s tariffs could affect sales of Marks & Spencer’s popular confectionery brand which has just launched in Target stores across the Atlantic.Archie Norman, the chair of M&S, has described Percy as the retailer’s “gift to America” but he told the Retail Technology Show in London that “we might have to change our minds” as Trump imposes additional taxes on imported goods. While M&S is not considering withdrawing the sweets, tariffs could push up prices and make them less popular.The pink confectionery which sells more than 18m bags a year in the UK and is apparently enjoyed by celebrities including Adele and Olivia Rodrigo, went on sale in the US on 30 March both in Target stores across the US and on its website in what was described as Percy’s “biggest journey to date”.The US president on Wednesday announced sweeping tariffs on imports, including a 10% tariff on those coming from the UK

Don’t weaken online safety laws for UK-US trade deal, campaigners urge

Child safety campaigners have warned the government against watering down landmark online laws as part of a UK-US trade deal, describing the prospect of a compromise as an “appalling sellout” that would be rejected by voters.A draft transatlantic trade agreement contains commitments to review enforcement of the Online Safety Act, according to a report on Thursday, amid White House concerns the legislation poses a threat to free speech.The Molly Rose Foundation, a charity established by the family of Molly Russell, a British teenager who took her own life after viewing harmful online content, said it was “dismayed and appalled” at the prospect of the act being a bargaining chip in a deal.The MRF said it had written to the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, outlining its concerns and urging him “not to continue with an appalling sellout of children’s safety”.The commitment to review enforcement of the OSA and another tech-focused piece of legislation – the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act – was reported by the online newsletter Playbook, which said the legislation would undergo a review of how it is implemented and not a “do-over”

Floppy disks and vaccine cards: exhibition tells tale of privacy rights in UK

Forty years ago, it would take a four-drawer filing cabinet to store 10,000 documents. You would need 736 floppy disks to hold those same files; now it takes up no physical space at all to store 10,000 documents on the cloud.As data storage has evolved, so too has the whole information landscape, and with it the challenges of storing, transferring and appropriately using people’s personal data.An exhibition by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which opened at Manchester Central Library this week, charts the evolution of data privacy through 40 items, each chosen to illustrate how access to information has evolved, or how data has been at the heart of some of the biggest news events of the past four decades.“I think the wonderful thing about the exhibition is that the world that we occupy, like any specialty, is filled with jargon and technicalities,” the information commissioner, John Edwards, said

Spain could include Camp Nou final in bid to host 2035 Rugby World Cup

The 2035 Rugby World Cup final could be staged at the revamped Camp Nou in Barcelona with the Spanish rugby federation in discussions with La Liga over using celebrated football stadiums as part of its bid to host the tournament.Delegates from the Spanish federation met World Rugby executives last weekend to demonstrate their intentions to host the tournament in 2035 and discussions are said to have piqued interest.The Camp Nou is undergoing a £1.3bn refurbishment and is set to reopen with a 105,000-capacity in June 2026 while Real Madrid’s Bernabéu has recently undergone a similar facelift. Using both venues for a first World Cup in Spain has obvious appeal while the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao hosted the Champions Cup final in 2018 and will do so again next year

Worcester wind back to life with second-tier return and vow to clear debts

Worcester Warriors insist they will be both sustainable and competitive when they return to English rugby’s second tier next season almost three years after going bust. The club’s new owners have had to provide stringent financial guarantees and commit to repaying rugby creditors left high and dry when Worcester went into administration with debts of more than £2 5m in September 2022.In the past clubs such as Richmond and London Welsh have been forced to start again at the foot of the English pyramid but a condition of Worcester’s return to the new-look Tier 2 league is that outstanding debts to, among others, HMRC and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be settled by the end of the year. In addition, the new owners have already made substantial payments to the administrators.Worcester are now set to take their place in a 14-team league that will include the 12 existing Championship clubs and the top side in National One, which Richmond currently lead by 10 points with three games remaining