Trump tariffs an early challenge for new ambassador Mandelson

British steel exports to the US will be hit with 25% tariffs under Donald Trump’s plans as the UK’s new ambassador to Washington, Lord Mandelson, said people must respect the president’s “strong and clear mandate”.

The president’s executive order removes exemptions for the UK and other countries, meaning steel and aluminium exports to the US will be hit by tariffs from March 12.

The move presents an early challenge for Lord Mandelson, whose appointment cleared its final hurdle late on Monday.

Lord Mandelson said “President Trump’s administration is shaping up to be one of the most consequential periods in modern America” and he has been “energised by the opportunities opening up” for closer collaboration.

The UK’s top diplomat in Washington said Sir Keir Starmer’s Government can “always make our views known privately and directly” to Mr Trump but that it must “understand what drives him”.

Lord Mandelson acknowledged he is “concerned” about the looming prospect of tariffs and said Britain will “not necessarily agree” with every detail of the new US president’s agenda.

Asked how the UK could try to persuade Mr Trump to change his position on certain policy areas without alienating his administration, he told the BBC: “Well, we’ve got to take all these issues as they come, realise that the president has a very strong and clear mandate for change in the United States.

“Now that doesn’t mean to say that we’re going to agree in Britain with every single detail of what he does, but we have to respect and understand what drives him, what his mandate is to do, and how his allies need to adjust sometimes.

“And I believe that, given the relationship that we have, we can always make our views known – best, by the way, directly and privately.

“We have a strong relationship that enables us to influence the president and his policies where necessary, and it certainly should not affect our ability to work well together, and that’s what I intend remains the case.”

Britain exported 166,433 tonnes of steel to the US in 2023, the last full year for which figures are available.

Figures from trade body UK Steel showed that in 2024 some 162,716 tonnes were sent to the US, but that does not yet include data from December.

UK Steel warned the tariffs “would be a devastating blow to our industry”.

Mr Trump said the tariffs are “the beginning of making America rich again”.

The US is the industry’s second-largest export market after the EU, although the Government said it only accounted for 5% of UK steel exports in 2023.

Mr Trump has argued that the measures are necessary to protect the US steel industry and national security.

But UK Steel dismissed the president’s claim that steel imports from Australia, the EU, Japan, and the UK rose from 18.6% in 2020 to 20.7% in 2024 because it ignored the demand-lowering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

UK steel exports to the US were actually 14% lower in 2024 than in 2018 when tariffs were introduced by Mr Trump in his first term in the White House.

UK Steel director-general Gareth Stace said: “President Trump has taken a sledgehammer to free trade, with huge ramifications for the steel sector in the UK and across the world.

“This will not only hinder UK exports to the US, but it will also have hugely distortive effects on international trade flows, adding further import pressure to our own market.

“UK steel poses no threat to US national security. Our high-quality products serve key US industries, many of which cannot source these domestically.

“This is a moment where our countries should work together to tackle global steel overproduction, not to be at loggerheads.”

Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary at the Community union, which represents many steelworkers, said: “The new tariff confirmed by Donald Trump is a huge cause for concern, and represents a retrograde step for the steel industry and economies on both sides of the Atlantic.

“There is now an even greater need for comprehensive safeguards to protect our domestic steel from cheap overseas steel imports.”

Downing Street declined to criticise the US president’s decision.

The Prime Minister is hoping to visit Washington in the coming weeks for face-to-face talks with Mr Trump, but no details have yet been confirmed on the timing of the trip.

Asked if the US President’s tariffs were wrong, Sir Keir’s official spokesman said: “We will take a considered approach to this. We will engage with the US on the detail, but the Government is clear we will work in our national interest and this issue is no different to that.”

Asked if the UK is prepared to enact retaliatory tariffs, the spokesman said he was not going to “get ahead” of conversations with the steel industry.

Lord Mandelson, a former minister, European Union trade chief and a key architect of Labour’s renewal in the 1990s, said his “priority” in his new role will be to help encourage an investment relationship with the US fit for the 21st century.

“Each of us wants to grow our economies,” he said.

“I think that what we need to do is to build a technology and investment relationship between the US and the UK that’s fit for the 21st century. That’s where I want to focus.”

He added: “We’re going to depend in growing our economy on private investment, foreign investment, a large amount of which is going to come from the United States of America.”

Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is leading the Government’s efforts to get closer trade ties with the European Union, said the UK will not choose between Brussels and Washington.

He said there are significant opportunities to improve trade and deepen relationships with both the EU and US.

He told MPs: “I think it’s perfectly possible to cuddle more than one person at the same time.”

Elsewhere, Downing Street would not be drawn into saying whether it will follow Mr Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it was a “matter for the US” to choose how it labelled “geographical features” around its coast, and said the UK was led by its own “longstanding” naming process.