It’s a busy day for UK trade with significant developments affecting the British steel and pharmaceutical sectors, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer on a trade-focused visit to India, and leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch set to address delegates at the Conservative Party’s annual conference.
We also bring updates from the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade’s programme of events and activities at Conservative conference in our daily digest.
‘No other choice’ on steel
The EU confirmed yesterday that it will double steel tariffs to 50% to align with the current rates being set by the US. The bloc hopes the decision will open the door to renewed talks with the Trump administration to lower the duties, while in the short-term guarding against cheap imports flooding the European market.
“What was clear, coming from the US, was the question: ‘Look, we already adopted very robust measures — what are you Europeans going to do?’” EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told reporters.
“We decided to do it in our European way. It means we keep our markets open and we are offering quotas for our partners.”
However, an EU proposal to also sharply cut steel import quotas at the same time as increasing tariffs could hit many of the EU’s largest trading partners hard, including the UK.
Industry body UK Steel has called this “perhaps the biggest crisis” the sector had ever faced, describing it as an “existential threat”, the Times reports.
“We are discussing this with the EU and with the US,” Starmer said yesterday.
Also on the government’s agenda today
The prime minister was speaking from India where he is on a two-day trade visit alongside over a hundred business leaders.
The topic of visas for highly-skilled Indian workers – a key bone of contention in negotiations for the trade deal that was signed earlier this year – was raised to him by the press pack yesterday. Starmer said that offering visas “isn’t part of the plan”.
“The issue is not about visas. It's about … engagement and investment and jobs and prosperity coming into the United Kingdom,” he said, according to the Independent.
His administration is also drawing up plans to increase the amount that the NHS spends on pharmaceutical products in a bid to stave off new US tariffs.
Industry figures have told Politico that the proposals include a plan to raise the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) threshold by 25%. The threshold assesses whether treatments offer value for money. Increasing it will make it easier for more expensive drugs to reach patients, but will increase costs for the NHS.
The UK’s Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) has also been criticised for senior pharma leaders, including Eli Lilly’s chief executive Dave Ricks. The VPAG rebate, payable by pharma groups for newer drugs, was also created to keep NHS costs down.
US President Donald Trump has previously threatened 100% tariffs on the pharma industry, though the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal, signed in May, opened the door for “preferential treatment” for UK exports if the British business environment for the sector improved.
Latest from Conservative Party conference
The Conservative Party’s annual conference draws to a close today, with the keynote address from leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch the focus of attention.
The speech will include a new “golden rule” commitment to cut government borrowing and taxes, the BBC reports. The pledge will be that half of all savings made by a future Conservative government would be put towards reducing the fiscal deficit, and the other half would be spent on policies aimed at growing the economy.
The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade also continued its programme of party conference events and activities in Manchester yesterday (7 October), with its director general Marco Forgione attending a Chatham House event on ‘Building the UK’s resilience: Economic security in an uncertain world’.
Alongside Olivia O’Sullivan from Chatham House, Minako Morita-Jaegar from the University of Sussex and Alison Griffiths MP, Forgione said the UK had a leading role to play in defining the future of international trade, amid ongoing threats to the multilateral rules-based system.
Citing the Chartered Institute’s recent report on ‘Reimagining UK-EU Trade and Cooperation’, Forgione said the EU remained a critical market for the UK, but that the country’s 10% preferential baseline tariff rate with the US gave it a “competitive advantage”.
He said it was critical to support more SMEs to grow, including through international trade, saying that even incremental increases in output from the SME community would bring billions to the UK economy.
Andrew Griffith, the shadow business and trade secretary, also said that it was important to create a business environment where entrepreneurs could thrive, and he said that he was deeply concerned by new trade barriers being erected, when discussing carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM).
“If we don’t grow, we’re all dead,” he told Shanker Singham, chairman of the Growth Commission.
Commodities in focus
Commodities trade is also in the news today, after gold topped US$4,000 per troy ounce for the first time. The precious metal is viewed as a bellwether for economic confidence, with investors piling into it during times of uncertainty.
The surge is likely due to ongoing uncertainty over the strength of the dollar which has waned in the wake of Trump’s protectionist tariff regime. Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio yesterday called gold a safer alternative to the dollar and an “excellent diversifier” for portfolios, the FT reports.
However, another precious commodity is seeing prices tumble, with the value of cocoa down to a 20-month low after a two-year rally. Cocoa prices soared after dry weather, disease and other issues caused a supply shock in 2022 in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the FT reports. Rains returned last year, helping to restore production, and it is now expected that there could be a surplus of the bean from the 2025-26 harvesting season.
Also in the news
· Jaguar Land Rover is to resume key parts of its manufacturing production, over a month after output was halted by a cyber-attack, according to the FT
· Trump called Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney a “world-class leader” at a positive White House reception yesterday, as talks continue for a deal to reduce tit-for-tat tariffs introduced earlier this year, Politico reports
· New data seen by the Guardian shows that UK plastic waste exports to developing nations rose by 84%, year-on-year, over the first half of 2025
Yesterday in trade
· The Chartered Institute hosted a panel session at the Conservative Party conference, alongside This is Purpose, on the topic of rising trade protectionism
· Trump announced that 25% tariffs on medium and heavy truck imports are due to come into force on 1 November
· The Chartered Institute hosted a public webinar on AI usage in global supply chains, featuring speakers from Netcompany, McKinsey Global Institute and Brunel University
You can read yesterday’s trade news here.
