Latest news with #FlintGlobal
CNN
21-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Sir Simon Fraser Breaks Down the New Trade, Security, and Travel Deal Between the UK and EU
"If we're going to move forward, both sides are going to have to make concessions to get advantage." Sir Simon Fraser, cofounder of Flint Global, breaks down the new trade, security, and travel deal between the UK and EU.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Sir Simon Fraser Breaks Down the New Trade, Security, and Travel Deal Between the UK and EU
"If we're going to move forward, both sides are going to have to make concessions to get advantage." Sir Simon Fraser, cofounder of Flint Global, breaks down the new trade, security, and travel deal between the UK and EU.
The Guardian
13-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Caught in the middle: UK firms brace for fallout from Trump's global trade war
'We're vulnerable at the moment,' says Fiona Conor, the managing director of Trust Electric Heating, a Leeds-based radiator manufacturer, who has been considering expanding into the US market. After a predictably unpredictable start to Donald Trump's second term as US president, Conor is worried her options could be limited, as businesses across the UK brace for a global trade war. Business leaders are hoping that Britain can avoid sweeping US tariffs, but experts warn that the fragmentation of the international trading order would still have a chilling impact on a relatively small, open economy such as the UK's. Highlighting that danger, Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium announced this week – including on UK exporters – could hit British industry hard when they come into effect in early March. As the owner of a fast-growing business, Conor has been flying back and forth between Leeds and New York in recent months, building links in the world's largest economy to sell her family-owned firm's award-winning electric radiators. 'Now with this tariff threat, I'm hoping Keir Starmer puts his big boy pants on and has some strong negotiating skills. I would be getting over there, looking in the whites of [Trump's] eyes, shaking his hand and getting this deal done,' she says. The US is the single largest individual country trading partner for the UK, in a relationship worth almost £300bn a year. Most is in services, largely involving banks, law firms and accountancies in the City of London and on Wall Street, which are not subject to tariffs. Foreign direct investment between the two countries totals more than £1tn. UK goods exports – dominated by cars, medicinal and pharmaceutical products, mechanical power generators and scientific instruments – were worth £58bn in the year to the end of September 2024. Goods imported from the US were worth just £2bn less, led by oil, and generators. As Trump targets US allies and enemies alike with tariffs, Starmer's government has sought to cosy up to the president, while also rebuilding ties with the EU after Brexit. The prime minister is due to visit Trump later this month, while UK ministers curried favour with the White House this week by joining the US in refusing to sign an artificial intelligence accord at a landmark Paris summit. Often striking a softer tone than other world leaders, some economists believe Starmer's strategy could pay off, as he uses Britain's post-Brexit independence to negotiate on trade with the US, EU and China. However, others warn Britain outside the EU is in a weaker position, and will ultimately need to pick a side. Rhys Davies, a former government trade adviser, now at the consultancy firm Flint Global, says: 'The size of the UK economy, and its high openness to trade means that if it does come under pressure its ability to retaliate in a genuinely meaningful way is limited. 'While the UK will look to prepare countermeasures that are carefully calibrated for maximum political impact – and strengthen broader trade relations – the best hope is to fly under the radar while Trump looks at the countries with which the US has consistent trade deficits.' Trump has largely focused attention on Canada, Mexico and China, which export significantly more to the US than they import. Britain has a more balanced trading relationship with the US. Starmer could also rely on a statistical quirk. US figures have shown it has a surplus in trade in goods with the UK of about $12bn (£9.6bn), but the UK has reported a surplus with the US of about £2bn. The Office for National Statistics blames the mismatch partly on territorial definitions, with the US data including crown dependencies, unlike the UK. However, business leaders are still worried about the risk of a characteristically tempestuous turn from the US president. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows 63% of manufacturers believe exports will be affected by US tariffs. Another company that finds itself squarely in the line of fire is Europlaz Technologies, an Essex-based manufacturer of high-precision products to the medical devices industry. The US market is the single largest destination for UK exports of scientific instruments, worth almost £3bn in 2023. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Rory O'Keeffe, the commercial director at Europlaz Technologies, says Trump's 'sledgehammer' approach could result in a 'commercial earthquake' for his firm. 'Three of our largest customers have a heavy presence in the US, and many of our UK-based clients rely on the American market for the lion's share of their sales. The reality is that tariffs will mean higher costs and higher costs mean higher prices, and diminished competitiveness,' he says. Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, urged Starmer on Wednesday to impose 'Tesla tariffs' if Trump pushes ahead with plans to hit the UK steel industry. 'Sitting back and hoping Trump won't hurt us just isn't going to work. The only way we can tackle Trump and [Elon] Musk is by negotiating from a position of strength and showing that the UK will not be bullied from across the pond,' he said. Even if the UK manages to avoid specific tariffs, experts warn that a broader slowdown in international trade will hurt the UK. Global supply chains mean UK firms could still be hit by US tariffs on other countries – such as manufacturers shipping components to Mexico or the EU, which are used to make finished products exported to the US market. 'The slowdown in other regions which could have more of a dampening effect on the UK, rather than the effective tariffs themselves,' Anthony O'Brien, the head of market strategy at Phoenix Group, says. How the UK responds could also be important. Free market economists have urged Starmer not to retaliate if Trump targets Britain, arguing that while UK exporters would be hit, British consumers would avoid higher prices for US goods. Still, such an outcome would hit the UK economy. The Bank of England, which is monitoring the situation closely, has warned that anything unpicking global trade is bad for growth. Business investment could be put on ice, while US tariffs on other countries, including China – the world's largest exporter – could lead to the diversion of its products to Britain, flooding the market. John Glen, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, says that Britain is in a tight spot. 'We have the opportunity [post-Brexit] to stand alone and negotiate an agreement with Trump. Would he be willing to do that? I don't know. Would we be in a strong position to negotiate? I don't think so. Could we act as a mediator between EU and US, very much so.'
Wall Street Journal
05-02-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
英国がトランプ関税を回避できている理由
【ロンドン】良い貿易戦争をしている国の一つは英国だ。 少なくとも今のところは何とか戦いを回避している。 LONDON—One country that is having a good trade war is Great Britain. At least, so far, it is managing to duck the fight. While President Trump threatens to place tariffs on Western allies, including Canada and the European Union, he said this week that U.S. trade with the U.K., although out of line, can be worked out. British officials are hopeful the country can stay off his tariff target list. To do so, Downing Street is banking on a mix of serving up modest flattery, playing to Trump's soft spot for the British monarchy and keeping its head down. 'We are well positioned in the sense that we are inoffensive,' says Sam Lowe, a London-based trade expert at the consulting firm Flint Global. Britain, whose economy is heavily service based, buys roughly as many goods from America as it exports to the U.S. market. And its departure from the EU means it isn't part of a big, attention-grabbing trade bloc. Even though U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is from the other side of the political spectrum, Trump recently described him as 'very nice.' Still, the U.K. is engaged in a delicate dance as it tries to foster economic growth by rebuilding relations with Europe and China—all while keeping the U.S., its biggest-single trade partner, on its side. That balancing act was on full display this week as Starmer traveled to Brussels in what was billed as an attempt to reset relations with EU leaders in the wake of Brexit. While his counterparts in the bloc spoke out to criticize Trump's threat to impose a 10% tariff on EU imports, Starmer stuck to the center of the road. 'If you look at our vital interests, it's really important that we work with both and that we don't see it as either-or,' he said. It was still 'early days' when it came to tariffs and the U.S., the prime minister added later. The good news for the British government is that Trump is one of the most Anglophile U.S. leaders in decades. His mother was from Scotland, where he is expected to open a third golf course this year. He restored a bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office after President Joe Biden removed it. The president signs off on trade tariffs while sitting at the Resolute Desk, an 1880 gift from Britain's Queen Victoria. Shortly after being re-elected in November, Trump was shown in Tucker Carlson's docuseries 'Art of The Surge' leafing through a photo album of his state visit to meet Queen Elizabeth II when he was first president. 'I mean who has images like this,' Trump says. 'And these were relationships too…Look, it's Charles. So beautiful,' he says about a photo of the now-British monarch. For the British, this is a happy contrast with Biden, who spent a great deal of his time in office talking up his Irish roots, and was no fan of Brexit. But the risk is the current White House incumbent's appreciation turns into a suffocating bear hug. 'The Trump team really loves Britain, so they think it's their job to save it,' says Bronwen Maddox, the director of Chatham House, a London-based think tank. Maddox says one senior Trump ally she spoke with at the World Economic Forum in Davos recently expressed the view that the U.K. was in the grip of left-wing politicians and needed to be straightened out. Trump ally Elon Musk, for one, has repeatedly posted on X criticizing Starmer, a former human-rights lawyer, and calling for him to be replaced. So far, Trump's comments about Starmer have been more affable. Last year, the pair spent two hours during the campaign talking over dinner at Trump Tower, and both leaders have spoken by phone recently. Trump last month said they 'get along well' despite Starmer being 'liberal, which is a little bit different from me.' But perhaps Britain's Trump card, so to speak, is its royal family. In December, Prince William, King Charles III's heir, was dispatched to meet with the president-elect after they both attended the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. 'I had a great talk with the prince,' Trump later told the New York Post. 'He looked really, very handsome last night. Some people look better in person? He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that.' A Downing Street spokesman said the government hopes to get Trump back to Buckingham Palace as soon as possible. He added there was a 'fair and balanced' trading relationship with the U.S. and pointed to the fact that there is '£1.2 trillion invested in each other's economies.' Further helping Britain's case is some ambiguous trade data. According to U.S. figures, America had a $14.5 billion trade surplus with the U.K. in 2023. U.K. figures, however, record that it was Britain that had a trade surplus with the U.S. to the tune of £71.1 billion in the same year. (The discrepancy is explained in part by the fact that the U.S. figures include trade with several semiautonomous islands known as British 'crown dependencies,' such as the Isle of Man, which are financial centers). U.K. officials hope to tighten trade ties with the U.S., including on artificial intelligence and defense. There are plenty of potential road bumps. Even if Britain isn't hit directly by tariffs, its trade-reliant economy would be exposed to the blowback of any global trade war. During his first presidency, Trump didn't hold back from criticizing Britain's leaders, mostly over its botched divorce from the EU. British officials are bracing for more such brickbats. Write to Max Colchester at
