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Coffee House Shots

Can Britain dodge Trump's tariffs?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 β€’ 2.1K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Reports in the papers today say that the British government is considering scrapping its digital services tax – largely levied at American tech companies – in return for an exemption to Trump's tariffs that come into effect on April 2. Would this be an effective – or desirable – move on the British part? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode of Coffee House Shots is sponsored by Alliance Witten Investment Trust.

0:05.3

From the OPEC oil crisis of the 1970s, the financial crash in 2008, to the COVID epidemic and Liz

0:12.6

Trust's doomed premiership. There has been no shortage of economic crises over the last 58 years.

0:19.0

And yet, throughout that time, every single year, without fail, we've paid out

0:23.4

an increased dividend to our shareholders. In fact, Alliance Witten's history dates all the way back to

0:29.7

1888. And today, we manage around Β£5 billion in assets. If you're looking for a less stressful way to invest in stocks and shares,

0:39.2

learn more about Alliance Witten and find your comfort zone.

0:45.3

Hello, welcome to Coffee House Shots. I'm James Hill and I'm joined today by Katie Balls and

0:49.3

from America, Kate Andrews. Now Katie, this morning, most of the papers are filled with talk about potential

0:54.8

US tariffs on the UK and the potential for a quid pro quo for the UK, which is that the UK

1:00.2

would be spared such tariffs if it dropped its digital services tax. Tell us more.

1:05.2

So when Rachel Reeves did her pre-spring statement media round, she had lots of things to talk about.

1:12.0

She was talking about the number of civil services jobs they might cut.

1:15.9

She was also saying that the spring statement, which we get on Wednesday, of course.

1:20.4

She didn't dispute the idea it had become a bigger event than she had initially planned for it to.

1:25.9

But she said this was down to the changing world.

1:28.2

One of the things I think the most struck me about those interviews

1:30.4

was how optimistic she seemed that there could be a path to avoiding tariffs.

1:35.9

Now, the tariffs come in all across the world on the 2nd of April.

1:40.0

In the Treasury and Whitehall, they refer to it as World Tariff Day.

1:44.4

And the question is, on World Tariff Day, is the UK included?

1:50.0

As things stand, the UK is on course to be concluded.

...

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