Time to take a leaf out of Trump's book, and put Britain first

The Prime Minister's reaction is one of characteristic caution. He says the Government has a plan for every eventuality, but warns again knee-jerk retaliation.

This is probably the correct approach, but it only serves to underline the weakness of Britain's position in a probable trade war.

This will be particularly concerning in the industrial heartlands of the West Midlands, where thousands of jobs depend on Jaguar Land Rover's exports to the United States. Britain's beleaguered car makers are already at a disadvantage as a result of the National Insurance hike which comes into effect this month. The last thing they need is a trade war with their biggest export market.

Sir Keir Starmer says he has contingency plans in place to mitigate the impact on the sectors most affected, but it is hard to see how much he can do given the already parlous state of public finances.

Even if the Government can strike a trade deal with President Trump, can we really take it for granted that he won't change his mind again?

The problem for Britain is that the erosion of our manufacturing base and dependence on imported goods has left us particularly vulnerable in the event of a trade war. 

It is clear that, for the foreseeable future at least, we cannot depend on the US as a reliable trading partner. There is an argument that we need to look again at our relationship with the EU, and there might be scope to improve our trading relations. But Britain has traded at a deficit with the EU for decades, so the suggestion this would somehow compensate for the loss of exports to the US is clearly fanciful. 

The one thing the Government can do is show its solidarity with our manufacturing industry by holding a Buy British policy. 

In recent years we have become accustomed to seeing members of the royal family driving Audis, ministers being chauffeured in BMWs and police forces using vehicles from all over Europe. 

It is time we took a leaf out of President Trump's book, and put Britain first.