LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Stormmer has said he is prepared to step in with government support to protect the country’s businesses from the impact of new US tariffs as fears grow over a wider trade.

“We are ready to use industrial policy to help protect British business from the storm,” starred storms in The telegraph newspaper.

“Some people may feel uncomfortable with this – the idea of ​​the state having to intervene directly to shape the market has often been spotted.

“But we simply cannot cling to old feelings when the world turns this quickly.”

While Stormer said the government’s priority is still to try to secure a trade agreement with the United States that could include duty exemptions, he said he will do “everything necessary” to protect the national interest.

Britain was spared the most punitive treatment in Trump’s Customs Notification Wednesday, being hit with the lowest import duty of 10%, but a global trade war will still hurt its open economy.

“This week we will turbocharger plans that will improve our domestic competitiveness, so we are less exposed to this kind of global shock,” he said, adding that the government also wanted to strengthen alliances and reduce barriers to trade.

Telegraph reported that Stormers’ government could bring emergency reforms to reduce bureaucracy around regulation and raised the prospect of targeted tax cuts to help affected sectors.

British car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover said on Saturday that it would put shipments of cars to the United States for a month due to tariffs, adding fear of the impact of an industry employing 200,000 people in the UK.

Stormmer, who wrote in the newspaper, reiterated that he would take a “cool-head” approach to the tariffs rather than immediately retaliation, but he added: “All options remain on the table”.

The UK on Wednesday announced a 400-page list of US goods it could include in any possible retaliatory response.