Trump unsure of tariffs on UK, says would "definitely happen" with European Union

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that although Britain was "out of line" when it came to trade he thought it may be able to avoid tariffs, adding of the imbalance: "I think that one can be worked out".

Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China over the weekend and said they would "definitely happen" with the European Union, sparking fears of a trade war that would derail economic growth and hike consumer costs.

Asked about Britain and whether it would face tariffs next, Trump told reporters: "We'll see how things work out. It might happen with them, but it will definitely happen with the European Union, I can tell you that."

"The UK is way out of line. We'll see ... but the European Union is really out of line. The UK is out of line, but I think that one can be worked out. But the European Union is an atrocity, what they've done."

He said Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer had "been very nice. We've had a couple of meetings, we've had numerous phone calls. We're getting along very well. We'll see whether or not we can balance out our budget."

A British government spokesperson said the US was an indispensable ally and close trading partner.

"We have a fair and balanced trading relationship which benefits both sides of the Atlantic," the spokesperson said.

"We look forward to working closely with President Trump to continue to build on UK-US trading relations for our economy, businesses and the British people."

Starmer and his ministers have praised Trump since he was elected, stressing how much Britain imports from the United States and hoping to avoid tariffs at a time when Britain's economy is already struggling to grow.

Thanks to methodological differences between their national statistics agencies, Britain and the United States both report trade surpluses with each other in goods.

According to British data, Britain had a trade in goods surplus of 1.9 billion pounds ($2.3 billion) with the US in the year to the end of the third quarter in 2024.

In the same period total trade between the two countries was worth 294 billion pounds, making the United States Britain's biggest trading partner as a single country, although the European Union is bigger as a bloc.

But less than one third of its trade is in goods, which could face U.S. tariffs, with the rest made up of services.

Starmer told reporters at the weekend that in his early discussions with Trump the two men had focused on building on strong trading relations.