It may be that Trump doesn’t realise that Ron Vara is no more real than his hero Hannibal Lector. He’s a literary creation of his adviser Peter Navarro - who Musk calls a ‘moron’.

www.firstpost.com/explainers/i...

Yes, over 70% of those who voted Labour at GE want Starmer to drop his red lines to secure the crucial economic benefits of rejoining the single market.
And that was before Trump. It’s urgent now, can be done < 2 yrs from outside EU.

Whatever Trump’s real motives for tariffs, they’re raising him €2bn per day outside the control of Congress.
Starmer should reciprocate, setting matching tariffs on all US goods imports. 10% on £58bn pa to start with could be hypothecated to NHS and social care.

To rejoin EU we have to start by electing a govt committed to apply. At some point EU MSs will likely insist on a referendum, unless there’s a clear majority in next GE (34% of vote won’t be enough, they won’t want UK changing its mind half way through the Art 49 process).
UK can rejoin EEA now.

And UK needs to be part of this discussion, committed to common security and interoperability in Europe. That will happen through CSDP, UK needs to rejoin it as 🇳🇴 has done.

Starmer is right, it might be possible to sign a trade deal with US, as Canada & Mexico did with Trump in 2019. Benefits are dubious, temporary at best. But FWIW a limited deal with US wouldn’t be incompatible with rejoining EEA & single market, which is where Britain’s real interests lie.

Europe, inc UK, has had 4 yrs to prepare for Trump, for it was always possible Biden would drop the ball and let him back in. Trump’s tariffs are against WTO MFN rules, but Trump disabled WTO last time, that was never going to restrain him.

There are trade experts who advocate Trump’s approach on tariffs and trade wars. Ron Varo, for one, who set out the strategy. Trump may not actually have read it, for he doesn’t read, but somebody told him about it.

Starmer needs to decide whether he really wants a closer trade and security relationship with Europe or not. It was essential even before Trump’s trade war and impending revocation of NATO Art 5, it’s vital and urgent now.
Going forward, UK must rejoin EEA & then CSDP.

Rejoining EU is not a feasible option for now - not least it’s not up to us in UK.
Forming a separate customs union, 🇹🇷-style, would have to be negotiated from scratch, min 5 yrs.
Rejoining the single market via EEA is feasible now, removes most of NTBs throttling trade for SMEs. Can be done <2 yrs.

Brexit - ie. leaving the EU - was always a huge mistake, as most voters now realise. But the economic damage could have been largely avoided by remaining in single market on leaving EU, as Barnier offered. Fortunately that option is still on offer via EEA - which nobody voted to leave. The 🇳🇴 option.

Once tariffs become reciprocal and variable at will, they reach a level which renders trade unviable. US is effectively cutting itself off from the world trading system.
There’s no excuse for failing to detect warning signs, RoW has been slow to adjust, but adjustment still possible at lower level.