The chancellor said Starmer was focused on trying to ‘de-escalate and get the best deal for Britain’ At his press conference on Monday Keir Starmer played down the prospect of the UK imposing tariffs on the US in retaliation for the “Greenland tariffs” that Donald Trump says he will impose on the UK and seven other Nato countries that have opposed his plan to buy the Danish self-governing territory. Starmer said that he did not want a trade war, and tariffs would not be in anyone’s interests. But No 10 later made it clear that Starmer was not 100% ruling out tariffs. And, in his interview on the Today programme this morning, Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, also refused to rule them out – although he did say it would be wrong to issue threats and “ratchet up the temperature”. Britain is not here to be buffeted around. We’ve got an economic plan and it’s the right one for our country. If other countries want to increase trade barriers, that is their choice. But we are determined to bring trade barriers down, which is why this week I’m meeting with European, Gulf partners, Canadians to talk about how we can free up trade and make it easier for businesses to trade around the world. At the moment, no tariffs have been imposed. I think the right approach, and the approach that our prime minister, Keir Starmer, has taken over the last year or so is to try and de-escalate and get the best deal for Britain. Continue reading...

The U.S. remains the "closest of allies" with the U.K. despite a growing rift between the U.S. and Europe over the future of Greenland, Rachel Reeves told CNBC.