Trump’s Latest Tariff Plan Threatens U.K. With $20B Hit

Donald Trump’s latest plan to slap tariffs on U.S. imports based on sales taxes in their country of origin could shave £16 billion ($20 billion) off U.K. economic output over the next two years, in what would be a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s promise to fire up growth.

The American president on February 13 ordered top economic officials to calculate duties on U.S. imports by looking country-by-country at tariff, tax, regulatory, currency and other barriers faced by U.S. companies when they tried to export to those markets. The president cited value added tax levied on sales in the European Union as a problem. Britain also charges VAT — at 20%.

While U.K.-based trade consultants and economists said such a wide-ranging set of duties was unlikely to come to fruition, due to their potential impact on the U.S. economy, they raise the risk of a sizable hit to th…