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The era where people have been able to pick up cheap clothes, TVs and cars thanks to globalisation came to a crashing end this week thanks to Donald Trump’s tariffs, a minister has said.
Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, bluntly told the BBC a new age had begun for international trade off the back of the policy.
Trump announced on Wednesday that sweeping tariffs would apply to countries around the world as he tries to encourage businesses to move production to the US.
But economists have warned the move risks raising prices worldwide and could start a trade war, after China announced its own tariffs in response.
On the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Jones was asked if the US President’s move meant the era of ‘cheap fast-fashion or cheap TVs’ was over.
He replied: ‘Yeah, it’s ended.
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‘Globalisation, as we’ve known it for the last number of decades, has come to an end.’
Jones said the new reality demonstrated why the government has to ‘invest in the domestic economy, both for UK businesses, but also our public services’.
His words echoed an article from Keir Starmer in the Sunday Telegraph, in which the Prime Minister says: ‘The world as we knew it has gone. We must rise to meet the moment.’
Many ‘fast fashion’ companies like Shein and Boohoo rely on cheap production in places like south-east Asia, where countries have now been handed steep tariffs by the US.
Asked if the British public should be ‘prepared for things to be even tougher than they already are’, he said: ‘In the global economy, yes, but on the UK economy we’re trying to get ahead of these challenges.
‘That’s why the plan for change is important, because it means that we can support businesses through industrial policy, we can support people through investment in the National Health Service, for example.
‘It is right that we get ahead of that, so that the country is in a more, stronger and resilient place.’
Speaking to MPs earlier this week, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he was ‘disappointed’ by the baseline 10% tariff imposed on the UK, but that he was still hopeful of securing a deal.
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The tariff rate on the UK is lower than the 20% rate put on imports to the US from the European Union, but similar to many other large economies around the world like Brazil.
Markets have fallen around the world since the announcement on Wednesday, which was dubbed ‘Liberation Day’ by Trump.
The dramatic move appears to have caused a rift between the President and one of his most prominent supporters, billionaire Elon Musk.
On Saturday, he told a conference organised by Italy’s right-wing League party: ‘At the end of the day, I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally in my view to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free-trade zone.’
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