April was a bad time for Britain's economy. Trump's tariffs are a big reason why
Britain's economy shrank by the most in nearly two years in April, when President Donald Trump's tariffs also caused UK goods exports to the United States to fall by a record amount.
Gross domestic product contracted by an estimated 0.3% that month – after expanding 0.2% in March – according to the Office for National Statistics, the sharpest month-on-month decline since October 2023.
The drop was largely due to a contraction in the services sector, which took a knock after the government ended a tax break for some home buyers.
But Trump's trade war also played a part.
Rachel Reeves, Britain's finance minister, told the Sky News broadcaster Thursday that April had been a 'challenging month.'
'There was a huge uncertainty about tariffs… If you dig into those GDP numbers today, (we see) exports weakening and also production weakening because of that uncertainty in the world around tariffs,' she said.
The value of UK goods exports to the US fell by £2 billion ($2.7 billion) in April compared with March – the largest drop since records began in 1997. The statistics office said the fall was 'likely linked to the implementation of tariffs' on Britain's US-bound exports.
On April 2, Trump announced a battery of new tariffs on America's trading partners, including a baseline 10% levy on goods exports to the US and country-specific 'reciprocal tariffs,' although he has delayed the implementation of these until early July. The president has also imposed new tariffs on steel, aluminum and car imports.
The United Kingdom has got off relatively lightly, with Trump applying only the baseline 10% tariff on imported British goods and agreeing to scrap tariffs on UK steel and aluminum. Britain was the first country to hash out a framework for a trade deal with Washington, which also included an agreement to lower tariffs on some imports of British cars.
Even so, the tariffs, their erratic implementation and the resulting economic uncertainty have weighed on businesses and consumers in the UK.
Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, a consultancy, said Thursday that the accord between the US and the UK offers British 'businesses a degree of policy certainty,' yet tariffs on UK exports to America are still higher than their pre-April levels.
'This is expected to act as a headwind for UK trade in the medium term,' Selfin wrote in a note.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
PR-savvy and now finally a knight - Beckham always knew how to turn on the charm
A sporting icon courted by prime ministers past and present, newly knighted Sir David Beckham is renowned for being extremely media savvy. Never more so than when I interviewed him for Sky News at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, after he took part in the closing ceremony having played a key role in London's winning bid to host the 2012 Games. Speaking about Sir Alex Ferguson in the interview, canny Sir Becks heaped praise on his old boss in our interview. But he'd been less complimentary about his old boss in a conversation with prime minister , I later learned. I'd travelled to Beijing with Mr Brown, via Afghanistan, and we spent the final evening of the Games at the handover party, when - then London mayor - famously spoke in his speech about "wiff waff" (table tennis) coming home. During his Beijing visit, Mr Brown had been promoting the idea of a Great Britain football team competing at the 2012 Games and there was speculation about being the team's coach. "Aah, Sir Alex," Becks said wistfully and apparently affectionately when I asked him about being re-united with his former Manchester United manager during the interview. "Like a father to me." Later, on the flight home to the UK, when I told Gordon Brown about the interview, the prime minister laughed. "That's funny," he said. "Why?" I asked him. He replied: "He told me 'If Sir Alex is manager, he won't pick me!'" played for Fergie at Manchester United from 1995 until 2003, when he joined Real Madrid amid claims that Ferguson disapproved of the player's showbiz lifestyle. By 2008 he was playing for LA Galaxy in the US. But despite his canny, PR-savvy answers in my interview, I saw him work the room that night in Beijing and glad-hand relentlessly. He gave every interview asked of him and turned on the charm on behalf of UK PLC to everyone present. For politicians and prime ministers, sportsmen and women like Beckham are pure gold. was also a fan and was photographed sitting alongside Becks at the London Games. When "Goldenballs", as wife Victoria called him, retired from football a year later, a No 10 spokesman gushed: "The prime minister's view is that David Beckham has been an outstanding footballer throughout his career. "But not only that, he has been a brilliant ambassador for this country, not least if we remember all the work he did on helping us win London 2012." Read more from Sky News: There was indeed a Great Britain men's football team at the Olympics, but it was coached by former England legend Stuart Pearce, not Sir Alex. And Pearce, nicknamed "psycho" for his aggressive style on the pitch, didn't pick Becks either, though he claimed he'd faced pressure from Downing Street to include him. Then in 2017, David Cameron's former spin doctor Craig Oliver claimed a senior Tory cabinet minister - thought to have been - suggested giving Becks a peerage and appointing him sports minister in a 2013 cabinet reshuffle. That never happened either, obviously, though at least - just like his "father figure" Sir Alex.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Here Are Some of the Southern California Immigration Raids From the Past Week
Tension has been growing for months over the Trump administration's aggressive efforts to deport people who remain in the United States illegally. But the situation escalated in Los Angeles about a week ago. After protesters converged on immigration raids and demonstrated against U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials, President Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to the city. While the focus has turned to ensuing protests in downtown Los Angeles and the heavy military response — the call-up has since increased to 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines — ICE agents have continued immigration raids each day in Southern California. It is difficult to have a comprehensive picture of the ICE efforts because the agency does not issue a list of people who have been detained each day nor the locations where they were taken from, and authorities did not confirm the number of raids they conducted in California this week. But residents, immigrant rights groups and elected leaders have cobbled together accounts of ICE workplace raids that they describe as indiscriminate attempts to find anyone who might be undocumented. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
How do Israel and Iran tensions impact the U.S.?
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Tensions continue to rise after an Israeli attack that targeted Iran's nuclear program. This comes before President Trump was scheduled to hold peace talks between the two countries. 2 NEWS spoke with local experts on what this all means for U.S. security. Five things to know about Israel's attack on Iran There are still a lot more questions than answers after this strike, as both sides continue to warn the other about continued attacks and retaliatory attacks, but one Cedarville University professor says any harm coming to U.S. soil is still relatively low. 'Tensions have really been rising between the two, especially in recent years,' said Dr. Glen Duerr, Cedarville University professor of international studies. Israel and Iran have been exchanging strikes over the past 24 hours, all centered around Iran's growth in nuclear weaponry. 'It must be at a point where Mossad, the roughly equivalent of Israel's CIA, said that Iran is a danger,' said Duerr. 'They're getting to a breakout point, where they need to act.' Duerr says a lot escalated following the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. 'Especially after October 7, 2023, when Israel's territory was attacked, and notably, as well, Iran for the first time directly attacked Israel via drone in April and then again in October of 2024,' said Duerr. Concerns have been raised as to if the U.S. could see an attack of this scale, or even a cybersecurity attack — especially towards prominent military locations like Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. But Dr. Duerr doesn't see that happening. 'It's certainly possible, but not likely. I think the target is Israel, although the Israeli and American defense industries are very, very closely coordinated, including in this area around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,' said Duerr. 'Certainly Iran could target the United States in terms of a cyberattack, but it's the timing doesn't make an awful lot of sense.' Israel attacks Iran's capital with explosions booming across Tehran 2 NEWS reached out to WPAFB to see if they have increased security in response to the recent activity, but have not heard back. President Trump has attempted to hold peace talks between the two countries, but the outcomes of what could happen due to this conflict are endless. 'My sense is that we'll see this kind of lower level tension, some exchanges between the two continue with low intensity into the future until something that changes, whether it's Iran's nuclear weapons program being discontinued or, heaven forbid, something broader that happens in the Middle East as well,' said Duerr. Duerr tells 2 NEWS that the conflict will be continuing — especially if Israel feels that Iran's nuclear program could reach a critical breakout point. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
