Readers' letters: Donald Trump's tariffs are a godsend for Keir Starmer

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visited the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Birmingham this week with fears of a global trade war mounting (Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Wire

Our Prime Minister stating, perhaps the obvious, that “nobody wins from a trade war” (Scotsman, 8 April) must be privately applauding President Trump for presenting him with a get out of jail card.

At a stroke, the dismal performance of the UK economy is nothing to do with loading our business with additional costs such as the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, sky-high energy costs and employment legislation; everything is now down to the Tariff War.

What a let-off. Here is a chance to load the country with more debt as Labour struggles to ensure that our US-orientated businesses are protected from the ravages of a tariff war and maybe even renationalise parts of the steel industry to ensure jobs are protected.

Sad to say but probably the only country in the developed world which will emerge even poorer from the current upheaval will be the UK, saddled as we are with a government even more incompetent than the previous one. The NI increase will impact on the productive side of our economy, adding costs to business which will be passed on to consumers, trade and even reduce employment opportunities.

Sensible governments will look to remove or reduce all costs that impact on the UKs ability to compete in the world markets. with energy and employment costs being a prime target. I suggest reaching out to other countries regarding trade with even more urgency, ignore the EU unless they reduce barriers to trade with us, filter out the noise from President Trump’s tariff war with China and start to recharge UK interest in trade then we might stand a chance.

One final thought must be to ensure that trade from China and satellite countries does not increase in volume or value as these countries look to offset trade with the US and focus on trade with easier markets. An essential part of that is to ensure that the UK benefits in terms of reciprocal trade agreements in real terms.

T Lewis, Coylton, South Ayrshire

Wake-up call

I’m not claiming Trump’s trade follies constitute a storm in a teacup, but I am forecasting that within days rather than weeks the adults in the room will have begun to calmly find a commonsense path out of today’s troubles.

That such a route is long overdue and that we shall one day quite soon be grateful to Trump for precipitating, albeit perhaps unintentionally, this wake-up call, is far more likely than not. Globalisation is a failure. The fact is that when push comes to shove we cannot rely on anyone but ourselves – and even several of our own sound very wobbly.

Nations must, like good neighbours, collaborate on matters of mutual interest, but never at the expense of domestic security in the things that really matter. It is a disgrace that we have well over a million unemployed able-bodied people and yet continue to import goods and services we could provide internally. If it’s argued that we cannot feed ourselves the answer is that’s because we tolerate far too large a population. Many and perhaps most global and ecological/climatic problems would rapidly diminish if the populations did likewise.

Raising tariffs to protect and sustain our own self-reliance production makes excellent long-term sense in terms of security and happiness. People trafficking mostly happens because humans cannot find good work in their own lands. Effective national self-sufficiency/reliance would soon sort that, together with birth control encouragements. If Trump’s clumsiness forces the planet to see that and react appropriately rather than mindlessly wailing and gnashing teeth then he deserves far more than the Nobel prize he’s said to yearn for.

Tim Flinn, Edinburgh

History repeating?

I see disturbing parallels between the current world situation and that of the 1920s and 1930s. Then, we had the Wall Street Crash in the late-20s following a period during which America became isolationist and did not join the League of Nations.

After the Wall Street Crash, we also had the rise of a Far Eastern power, namely Japan, taking land in China, Indo-China and Pacific islands. In the European context we also had a nation, namely Germany, which felt hard done-by after the Treat of Versailles and led by a charismatic dictator, Adolf Hitler.

Now in the 2020s, 100 years later, we have America becoming isolationist under Donald Trump, talking about possibly ignoring Nato obligations as we are facing a stock market meltdown thanks to his decisions on trade tariffs. In turn, this is causing stock markets to crash worldwide.

In the Far East we have China seeking to extend its power and take over islands in the South China Sea and threatening Taiwan. In Europe we have a major power, aggrieved about the loss of its former empire in eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, led by a charismatic dictator, namely Putin. His Russia is seeking new territories in much the same way as Germany sought “lebensraum” in exactly the same eastern European lands.

We have cause to be very much on our guard and we should be rearming strenuously.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Student numbers

I totally agree with the sentiments expressed by Michael Baird and Allan Sutherland, concerning the unsustainable university debts and the bloated numbers of students (Letters, 8 April). There is no doubt that there’s a decline in the quality of some degrees and many more going nowhere.

I would suggest that greater investment should be put into a growing number of apprenticeships, where the financial burden of training is more broadly shared. There’s no shame and a lot of credit in further education being vocational rather than purely academic.

Perhaps there’s a place for the old system of Junior Secondary Schools, concentrating on basic numeracy and literacy, and the lowering of the school leaving age to 15, and possibly even 14.

At a time when there’s a severe problem of trades personnel, these considerations should be examined sooner, rather than later.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Pay packet

Sir Peter Mathieson, Principal of Edinburgh University, states that the present funding model for Scottish universities is unsustainable. That may or may not be the case and is a matter for another debate.

However he has the audacity, it seems, to think that it is sustainable for his institution with a deficit of £140 million to support his annual pay package of £418,000, which is more than two-and-a-half times the salary of our Prime Minister.

I have no doubt that he probably thinks that he is worth every penny.

Jim Park, Edinburgh

Pronouns plea

Karyn McCluskey (Scotsman, 8 April) tries hard not to give away an individual offender’s sex by using “their, they’d and they” – but then identifies it by writing “I saw their mum, there for her son…”.

It is time our linguists decided on a new word to cover “he or she” etc, without using the ungrammatical and inelegant plural pronoun when meaning a single individual – which can also be confusing and ambiguous if the context or previous phrases covered both an individual and a group.

John Birkett, St Andrews, Fife

Rebels’ causes

Michael Officer calling the Jacobite rebellions “an attempt to destroy the introduction of the Protestant faith, as was being brutally done in mainland Europe at that time” (Letters, 8 April) is as empty a premise as Rangers’ trophy cabinet this year.

Anyone with a modicum of historical knowledge knows Cardinal Richelieu allied Catholic France to the Reformed Dutch and Swedes in the supposed sectarian Thirty Years War and came to the aid of the Calvinist and Zwinglian Swiss. A certain William of Orange likewise caused the religious fascists to splutter in their cups when he launched the League of Augsburg with Pope Innocent in response to “the Sun King”, Louis XIV, playing the Catholic card as a pretext for attempting to conquer Europe (later growing into the Grand Alliance which fought the first true “world war”, the War of the Spanish Succession).

The 1715 Jacobite rebellion was primarily started by “Protestant” Tory nobles forced out of public office by the new king’s favourites, the Whigs- its declared aim to free the land from “foreign rule” by deposing King George I with the sot the Old Pretender.

Six years later, its ringleader the Earl of Mar was granted a £3,000 pension from the same King George even though still exiled as a traitor. The oft overlooked 1719 Jacobite rebellion was primarily instigated by Protestant Sweden and Catholic Spain.

The final 1745 rebellion was an alliance of convenience between primarily “Protestan” Scottish nationalist clans objecting to “arbitrary rule” by a remote Parliament (plus ça change!) and those conversely wanting an absolutist Stuart monarchy restored, launched from the pure opportunism of the bulk of the British army being trapped fighting in Europe – doomed from the start on three counts.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Game of thrones

Your photograph in yesterday’s paper shows preparations for the opening of the St James’s Palace State Apartments to the public.

Did anyone else notice that the he cypher on the throne is still EIIR, rather than CIIIR? I wonder why. Is somebody not telling us something?

C Lowson, Fareham, Hants

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