'Not in UK’s best interest': Blair advises Starmer against retaliatory Trump tariffs

Former British prime minister Tony Blair has advised Keir Starmer to steer clear of retaliatory tariffs against the US following President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 10% tariff on all British exports to America.

According to a Politico report, Blair, who sought to strengthen the so-called special relationship between the UK and the US during his tenure from 1997 to 2007, emphasised that Britain would not gain from a confrontational approach.

“I don’t think it is in the UK’s best interest to retaliate," Politico quoted Blair as telling students at King’s College London in comments first reported by the Independent, as he praised Starmer’s “cool heads” response to the tariffs.

British ministers have said they are diligently pursuing an economic agreement with the US that would facilitate the reversal of tariffs.

However, Treasury Minister James Murray told Sky News on Friday that businesses are being asked to identify products where tariffs would have the least impact on UK companies.

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“We want to involve businesses in that decision, and we need to be clear that we keep all options on the table,” Politico quoted Murray as saying.

“We reserve the right to retaliate, but we want a deal, and our full focus is on that,” Murray added.

Trump claimed Starmer was pleased Britain avoided the 20% tariffs slapped on EU goods.

“We have a very good dialogue,” the US. president said on Thursday.

“I think he was very happy about how we treated them with tariffs,” added Trump.

Blair, a former Labour prime minister who worked closely with Republican US President George W. Bush during much of his time in office, also voiced concerns about Trump’s diminished support for Nato.

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Following the Kosovo War in the 1990s, Blair mentioned that he aimed to promote increased defence spending in Europe.

“It became clear to me that we could never have done it without the Americans. I thought, ‘This is crazy — what happens if the Americans decide they don’t want to be part of it?’” Blair was quoted as saying.

“But it got caught up in a whole lot of Euroskeptic arguments,” he added.

With inputs from agencies