Britain has more to fear from Trump tariffs than most industrial countries, warns ALEX BRUMMER

As one of the world’s most open economies, Britain has more to fear from the mayhem caused by the bewildering Trump tariffs than most industrial countries.

The sight of Labour ministers preening themselves on the UK’s relatively low general tariff of 10 per cent shows a profound ignorance.

Britain’s steel industry already is fantastically fragile as it switches from carbon- hungry blast furnace to electric arc.

Luxury car manufacturers will be forced to swallow some of the 25 per cent tariffs, profoundly affecting sales, profits and future R&D and investment.

The bigger threat comes from other directions. The big sell-off on the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 looks maniacal in points but markets have risen so high that the percentage falls of 3-5 per cent come nowhere near the Armageddon of Black Monday in 1987, when the Dow dropped 22 per cent and the FTSE 100 followed with a 25 per cent drop.

So disruptive was the decline the US Federal Reserve, the central bank, made an emergency cut to its key interest rate.

Jitters: US President Donald Trump's tariffs have sent the yield on short term gilts tumbling to 4.067%, the lowest level since October 2023. The ten-year is back at 4.533%

Britain’s open borders mean that exports of steel, vehicles and other products previously headed for North America could be dumped in the UK, threatening jobs.

Even more seriously it is estimated that the measures could instantly wipe 2 per cent off global growth.

That is ruinous for Britain’s already sinking output and throws Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s fiscal plans, updated a short week ago, back into disarray.

Bond markets already are sending out a distress signal. The yield on short-term gilts tumbled to 4.067 per cent, the lowest level since October 2023. The ten-year is back at 4.533 per cent.

The narrowing bond yield signals macro-hedge funds and traders fear recession. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer believes there is still a good opportunity for the UK to escape Trump’s detox of the economy by reaching what is described as an ‘economic deal’. But to pull that off requires enormous domestic sacrifice.

Abolishing the digital services tax which raises £800million at present, so as to satisfy the US that Britain is not hostile to Silicon Valley, may appear a small price to pay. But it is a blow directed at the very high street of John Lewis, Currys and Next which Labour is committed to restore.

Trump is using emergency powers to enforce his levies on trading partners.

Yet Republicans on Capitol Hill will not be tolerant of any deal under which the UK’s strict food standards, which bar hormone-enhanced beef and chickens processed with chlorine from these shores, are left intact.

Britain is particularly poor at nurturing its domestic champions.

AstraZeneca (a big riser on the FTSE 100) doubled down on investment in the US following Labour’s refusal to pony up sufficient funds for a new British-based vaccine facility.

Our defence R&D, patents and know-how have been gutted by private equity and American players.

Self-sufficiency in vital industries such as pharma, defence and AI tech must be in the national interest in the face of the world tariff blitz.

Blowing up globalisation is fantastically disruptive. But it illustrates the peril of ignoring the home front.

As A teenager who rented deckchairs adjacent to the Palace Pier, since renamed Brighton Pier, it was hard to resist buying shares when the company was listed on London’s AIM market 11 years ago.

Buying shares for a ‘hobby’ reason is a mistake. There should have been a warning sign over the offer, in the shape of the chairman Luke Johnson.

He was in charge at Patisserie Valerie which collapsed into administration in 2019 after the discovery of an alleged £10million accounting fraud – though Johnson is not accused of being involved in the fraud. Under him Pizza Express struggled.

Johnson’s decision to seek to end the listing of Brighton Pier Group, which also operates bars and miniature golf courses, led to a huge decline in an already eroded share price.

The biggest loser is the mysterious HPB Pension Trust, which has 29.1 per cent stake, while Johnson holds a 27 per cent stake.

The company says it is in its ‘best interest’ to de-list. That decision alone sent the shares tumbling 60 per cent, making it all the easier to buy up the minority.

Shareholders should show steel and vote against de-listing on April 22.