LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Britain expects its privileged trading position with the United States to continue after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the government said on Friday.
In April last year, Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs on goods imported from most U.S. trading partners, including Britain, invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. On Friday, the Supreme Court said Trump’s use of IEEPA exceeded his authority.
The baseline tariff that Britain faced under the reciprocal tariffs was 10%.
However, Friday’s ruling will not impact most bilateral trade under Britain’s separate tariff deal with Washington, which largely involves specific sectoral duties under different U.S. powers.
“The UK enjoys the lowest reciprocal tariffs globally, and under any scenario we expect our privileged trading position with the US to continue”, a British government spokesperson said in a statement.
“We will work with the (U.S.) Administration to understand how the ruling will affect tariffs for the UK and the rest of the world.”
The spokesperson said the government would support British businesses when further details are announced.
William Bain, head of trade at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said the ruling did “little to clear the murky waters for business.”
It was also unclear how U.S. businesses could reclaim import levies paid and whether British businesses would be entitled to a share of any rebate, Bain said.
“For the UK, the priority remains bringing tariffs down wherever possible,” he said, citing an agreement to bring down steel tariffs under the U.S.-UK tariff deal which has yet to be implemented.
“Any competitive advantage that we can secure is likely to help boost our exports to the single country, globally, we do most trade with.”
(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Muvija MEditing by William Schomberg)
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