The UK can be a beacon of stability to investors and businesses in a world where geopolitical tensions, and “populism and protectionism” are on the rise, the minister for investment has said.
Citing the government’s large majority and internationalist outlook, Baroness Gustafsson trumpeted the UK’s offer of long-term certainty to investors, branding the country a “safe haven” for foreign and domestic capital.
“At a time of growing isolationism, protectionism and trade fragmentation, we stand as a proudly open, internationalist economy, the best place in the world to invest and do business,” the former tech boss said in a keynote to a British Chambers of Commerce conference on trade.
Speaking less than a day after President Donald Trump promised to impose fresh tariffs worth “trillions of dollars” in early April, Gustafsson distanced the UK’s trade policy from that of the US and EU pledging to “lower trade barriers” and drive up investment and trade.
The speech from Gustafsson, the co-founder and former chief executive of UK tech darling Darktrace, marked one of her first major interventions since her appointment by Keir Starmer in October.
And in a thinly veiled nod to the US administration’s disruptive first few months, the minister lamented the “uncertainty” being wrought on businesses as they adapt to a new geopolitical landscape.
“Around the world right now we see uncertainty,” she said. “We see countries who were once the model of stability, facing real instability. We see a rise in populism and protectionism.”
And positioning the UK as an antidote to this fractious economic landscape she said: “That is not the case here… we’ve made clear to investors that we offer certainty… not least through our upcoming industrial and trade strategies.”
Last month, the UK became something of an international outlier when it chose not to apply reciprocal tariffs on the US after Donald Trump slapped a blanket 25 per cent duty on all US steel and aluminium imports.
The European Union immediately responded to the steel levy with €26bn of ‘counter measures’. And American neighbours Mexico and Canada, which have been at the sharp end of much of Trump’s protectionist measures, have both introduced their own set of retaliatory trade levies, raising the spectre of a global trade war.
The tenor of Gustafsson’s speech reflected previous comments from Starmer and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds. The pair have sought to position the UK as a bridge between the EU and US, and boost its bipartisan relations with both partners at a time when their relationship appears increasingly strained.
“We see a closer relationship with the European Union,” Gustafsson said. “We know there are unnecessary barriers which are holding back trade and investment between our two economies.”
Gustafsson’s comments came shortly after British Chambers of Commerce chief Shevaun Haviland chastised the government for not doing enough to boost bilateral trade with the European Union since coming into office.
Calling for a new formal trading relationship with the European Union, the industry body boss said: “Structural barriers to trade with the EU persist, in both goods and services. But the world order is shifting, and we need a new settlement with our closest neighbours.”