Luxury goods manufacturers will become “collateral damage” in any trade war caused by Donald Trump’s tariff plans, the industry has warned. In 2019, during the first Trump presidency, a long-running trade dispute regarding government support for Airbus and Boeing between the European Union and United States led the latter to impose 25 per cent duties on luxury products including Scotch single-malt whisky . “The goods that we export best to the US are made in the UK,” Helen Brocklebank, chief executive of the luxury group industry body Walpole, said.
“I can see what Trump is doing with his tariffs: he wants to encourage foreign business to invest in the US and make things in the US but that can’t happen with British luxury. “We were the collateral damage in a big trade dispute between Airbus and Boeing so we always worry that we are going to be the collateral damage in any trade dispute because these are famous names and it’s very easy to put the tariffs on to make the point.”.
