Scotland’s First Minister has urged the US president not to impose further tariffs on the UK – with John Swinney insisting such a move would cause “economic damage” both here and on the other side of the Atlantic.
The SNP leader made the plea in the wake of the latest threat by Donald Trump to hike levies on goods entering the US.
The president said he could “put a big tariff” on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on American social media firms.
The digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% levy on the revenues of several major US tech companies.
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Mr Trump said: “We’ve been looking at it and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful.
“If they don’t drop the tax, we’ll probably put a big tariff on the UK.”
The tax targets companies whose worldwide revenues from digital activities exceed £500 million, with more than £25 million of the revenues from UK users.
However, Mr Trump said the charge, which has long been a source of tension in US-UK relations, targeted some of the “top companies in the world”.
Mr Swinney said he feared that further tariffs on the UK would do “economic damage” to the Scotch whisky sector.
Tariffs are a very bad and damaging economic idea
The SNP leader told the Press Association: “My message to President Trump would be to not take forward any tariffs and to remove the tariffs he has in place already.
“The tariffs are clearly damaging and we need to see them lifted so there can be a free movement of goods and trade and there can be no economic damage done as a consequence of a policy which is clearly doing economic damage.”
The First Minister last year travelled to America for talks in the Oval Office, focused on the impact that US tariffs were having on Scotland’s whisky industry.
“Tariffs are a very bad and damaging economic idea,” he insisted.
Mr Swinney, speaking during a campaign visit to Greenock ahead of the May 7 Holyrood election, added that existing tariffs were “having a damaging effect on the Scotch whisky” industry, saying that had been why he “went to such lengths to persuade President Trump to lift those tariffs and I continue to make that case”.
The SNP leader continued: “The most recent threat from President Trump will simply deliver further economic damage to not only the United Kingdom but the United States.
“In the whisky example, although there is economic damage being delivered to the Scotch whisky industry here in Scotland there is also economic damage to a variety of interested industries within the United States.
“That just demonstrates that tariffs are bad for the economy, bad for jobs, and I would argue for there to be no tariffs in place.”