Rachel Reeves has said she has “confidence” the UK can escape Donald Trump’s trade tariffs – due to be imposed within days.
The chancellor did not rule out changing or ditching a tax on tech companies in a bid to duck the extra charges on goods entering the US, which experts have warned could shrink the already faltering UK economy.
Ms Reeves told Sky News she had “confidence in our negotiators” working to try to secure a carve out for the UK.
She added: “When our prime minister, Keir Starmer met Donald Trump a couple of weeks ago the US president said that he wanted to work on a deal and that’s what we are doing now. I believe in free and open trade. I want to reduce taxes.”
She later described the US President as “rightly” concerned about countries that had a large trade deficit with the US, but insisted the UK was not in that position.
Asked about reports the UK is considering a carve-out for the US from the digital services tax as part of negotiations, she later told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the UK was in discussions “around a whole range of things”.
She added: “You’ve got to get the balance right and those discussions at the moment are ongoing.
“We want to make progress. We do not want to see British exporters subject to higher tariffs and we want to see trade barriers fall right across the world.”
Sir Keir is in a race against time to secure a deal with the White House to escape tariffs which could come into play at the start of next month.
Last week well-placed sources within the Trump White House told The Independent that the UK can get “a quick trade deal”, but claims of free speech issues raised by vice president JD Vance with Sir Keir are likely to get in the way.
Mr Vance is in charge of the US side of the talks and The Independent has been told he is “prioritising” free speech amid anger that people have been arrested for posting on social media and proposed online safety legislation, which he sees as an assault on US tech companies.
It comes as the US president prepares to impose wider tariffs of 25 per cent on all imports from countries that charge VAT on imports from the US, including the UK – something which could happen as soon as 1 April.
The date has been dubbed “World Tariff Day” in Whitehall, as officials scramble to secure a deal amid fears over the impact of failure on the economy.