Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will hold talks with the White House next week amid efforts to strike a UK-US trade deal, despite Donald Trump downplaying the likelihood of any imminent agreements.
Ms Reeves hopes a deal can help soften the brunt of the US president’s sweeping 10% tariffs on all goods imported to America, with the Telegraph reporting that officials in Washington believe an agreement could be weeks away.
“Those conversations with our US counterparts are ongoing,” said Ms Reeves in a media interview.
“I will be in Washington next week for the International Monetary Fund annual meetings, their spring meetings.
“I will also be having conversations with the US administration whilst I’m there.”
Mr Trump has played down any prospect of an early deal, saying he was in “no rush” to reach any deals because of the revenues his new tariffs are generating.
Concern over President Trump’s impact on growth led the European Central Bank to cut interest rates for the seventh time since June.
The ECB lowered its main rate for 20 countries using the euro to 2.25% from 2.5% in a broadly anticipated move that represents the most aggressive central bank loosening of monetary policy.
It comes after the US President imposed a 20% tariff on the bloc, twice the level of the UK, as he claimed the EU had been “ripping off” America for years.
The ECB’s governing council said: “The euro area economy has been building up some resilience against global shocks, but the outlook for growth has deteriorated owing to rising trade tensions.
“Increased uncertainty is likely to reduce confidence among households and firms, and the adverse and volatile market response to the trade tensions is likely to have a tightening impact on financing conditions.”
The Bank of England has cut its base rate once this year to 4.5% and the US Federal Reserve has left rates unchanged in a range between 4.25% to 4.5%.
Inflation in the UK has fallen to 2.6%, but expectations are that it will rise to about 3.7%. Despite that, the Bank is still forecast to cut the base rate at its meeting next month.
President Trump has turned up the heat the Federal Reserve, saying the “termination” of Jerome Powell as chairman “cannot come fast enough”.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, responding to Mr Powell’s concerns this week about the impact of tariffs on the US economy, Trump branded him as “TOO LATE AND WRONG” and demanded immediate interest rate cuts.
He wrote: “Too late, should have lowered interest rates, like the ECB long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
The International Monetary Fund said it will deliver a significant markdown to its global growth projections for this year, though it is not yet forecasting a recession for the world economy as a result of US tariffs.
In her first public comments after President Trump’s decision to hit China with record import taxes, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, said the world’s growth prospects would be lower, inflation higher, with a risk of escalating financial market stress from US protectionism.
Major indices were mostly lower at the close of trading on Thursday as traders packed up for the Easter long-weekend break.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.33%, while the S&P 500 picked up 0.13% and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.13% weaker at 16,286.45. The FTSE 100 was unchanged at 8,275.66.
Weir Group and Travis Perkins were down 1.2% and 2.44%, respectively, all adjusting lower as they traded without entitlement to upcoming dividend payouts.
Hays slid 2.37% after the recruitment firm reported a drop in first-half adjusted operating profit. The company cited continued pressure from slower hiring activity, which weighed on both placement volumes and fee income.
Retail giant J Sainsbury added 3.55% after reporting an 8.6% increase in full-year underlying pre-tax profit to £761m, although the supermarket warned of flat earnings in the coming year.
Scottish retail
Retailers in Scotland experienced a sales surge in March, largely thanks to Mother’s Day shopping and despite the Easter holiday taking place in the corresponding month last year.
The latest data from the Scottish Retail Consortium revealed a 0.3% increase in total sales between 1 March and 5 April, compared to the same period in 2024, when sales had risen by 2.8%.
That was below the three-month average increase of 0.5% and above the 12-month average decrease of 0.8%. Adjusted for inflation, the SRC said there was a 0.7% year-on-year increase.
Easter falls a month later this year and the SRC was seeing the latest data as an encouraging sign.
“Scottish retail sales saw a small rise in March, a surprisingly strong performance considering Easter fell in the comparative month in 2024.
“These figures will hearten retailers who need good trading to counterbalance the turbulent economic news, and the significant public policy costs businesses are grappling with.
“With Easter still to come hopefully there will be more good news next month as well.”
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