A YouGov poll found Brits preferred almost anything to cosying up to Donald Trump – but one option got three times as many people excited as a deal with the US President

Voters think Britain should prioritise increasing trade with the EU over playing nice with Donald Trump in the hope he doesn’t slap us with tariffs, a new poll has found.

Three times as many respondents think increasing trade with the EU is the best course of action – 43%, compared to just 14% who think improving relations with the US President is the way to go. Trump has threatened 25% tariffs on all car imports to the US from Wednesday – which he’s branded “liberation day.”
The move is expected to badly impact one the UK’s main export industries and famous brands such as Jaguar Landrover, Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce. Keir Starmer has said he “reserves the right” to retaliate with tariffs of our own, but that he doesn’t “want a trade war.”

Instead, Downing Street hopes to secure carve-outs for UK exports through talks with US officials. But those polled by YouGov on behalf of Best for Britain, more preferred increasing trade with Japan or Brazil (20%) over sucking up to the US President.

Labour MP Andrew Lewin, who chairs the cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission said: “In recent weeks, the Prime Minister has acted decisively to bring European leaders together on defence co-operation. It is vital we have the same level of ambition for a reset in the UK and EU trading relationship.
“Closer alignment with the EU on goods and services, complemented by a new youth mobility deal are all popular with the public. Just as importantly, they are all policies which can drive growth in the UK economy – which is priority number one for the country right now.”

It comes after research by Frontier Economics suggested a deal with the EU that leads to deeper regulatory alignment on goods and services would not only cancel out the economic hit to the UK from Trump’s tariffs, but would grow the UK economy by up to 1.5% with the strongest growth in areas like the Midlands and North of England.

Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, said: “By deepening trade through a new common sense deal, our independent research shows the UK and EU can negate the economic damage from Trump’s trade war while securing meaningful growth across the UK. Achieving this outcome must be the Government’s priority when they host EU leaders in May.”