The UK is best-placed to eventually overturn US trade tariffs set to be announced on Wednesday, the trade secretary has said.
Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the UK was expecting to be hit by the new raft of import taxes set to be imposed by President Donald Trump.
Reynolds said he expected all countries to be affected by the tariffs, despite his efforts to negotiate an initial UK exemption.
But the business secretary said ongoing talks with the Trump administration meant the UK was in the “best possible position of any country” to have them reversed.
“Some of that comes down to the US and whether they want to do that,” Reynolds told BBC Breakfast.
“I do believe not only can we get to a place where we are avoiding tariffs on each other, but we’re also strengthening that relationship.”
Tariffs are taxes on goods imported to the US.
Trump argues the taxes – which will make it more expensive to import goods into the US – will bring back manufacturing industries and protect American jobs.
But economists expect tariffs to increase prices for consumers, reduce business investment and hit economic growth.
Over the weekend, Trump suggested the tariffs would hit all countries, not just those with the biggest trade imbalances with the US.
On Monday, the prime minister’s official spokesman said talks on an economic deal between the two countries to avoid tariffs had been “constructive” but he did not rule out retaliating if they were imposed on the UK.
Reynolds did not give a timescale on when an exemption might be agreed, and said the UK government was keeping “all options on the table”.
He said: “The longer we don’t have a potential resolution to that, the more we will have to consider our own position.”
He said negotiations that often take years had been done in days.
“And I believe that the framework of an agreement is certainly in place,” he added.
