US reciprocal tariffs might reduce British financial progress by 1%, OBR says

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to impose new reciprocal tariff charges subsequent week on nations all over the world might reduce British financial progress by as much as 1%, in line with the federal government’s impartial fiscal watchdog.

The Workplace for Price range Duty (OBR) mentioned in a state of affairs the place the USA imposed a reciprocal 20 proportion level improve in tariffs on all commerce companions Britain’s financial progress can be 1% decrease than its central forecast within the peak 12 months of influence in 2026-27.

The OBR mentioned if that occurred it will wipe out virtually all the authorities’s fiscal buffer “as extra tariff income is greater than offset by decrease receipts from revenue, company, and consumption taxes”.

Trump has referred to as the proposed new tariffs a “Liberation Day” for the U.S. economic system. The motion goals to shrink a $1.2 trillion international items commerce deficit by elevating U.S. tariffs to ranges charged by different nations and counteracting their non-tariff commerce limitations.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; enhancing by William James)