00:00We can now speak to Chris Southworth, who is Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce here in the UK.
00:06Great to see you, Chris. Thanks so much. Welcome back.
00:08I just want to ask you first actually about Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, in his emergency press conference today in London.
00:16He clearly said that the US approach threatening tariffs of 10% rising to 25% on these countries in Europe who've supported Denmark and Greenland.
00:24It was clearly wrong, but he seemed to be playing down the prospect of retaliatory tariffs on the United States if they are imposed.
00:32I mean, do you think that's the right approach?
00:34Can the UK not afford a stronger response at this stage to stand up to Trump's threats?
00:40Yeah, it's not just the UK business. It's international business.
00:44I mean, I think it's really interesting listening to the UK Prime Minister today, you know, in comparison to EU Prime Ministers.
00:54You can understand the anguish coming from the Danes, the Danish government, for example, France, and the EU in general.
01:03But I think what the UK were putting across today, and I think the Prime Minister was completely right, is none of us want a trade war.
01:11It's not in anyone's interest to have a trade war.
01:13We're talking about a region of the world which has never really been focused on up to now, but is opening up primarily because of climate change.
01:24New shipping routes are opening up, access to oil and gas and minerals.
01:29That hasn't necessarily been possible before, but it's an area of the world that has joint interests that we haven't needed to think about before.
01:38And that's really interesting in many ways.
01:41And the Prime Minister was really setting out that we need to do this in partnership.
01:45Obviously, China, Russia, as well as Europe, it's not just all about the US.
01:50Canada also have a huge interest here in terms of the Commonwealth with the UK and beyond.
01:57You know, we all need to work together and sort of set out the rules of how we engage in a new emerging part of the world that's opening up for trade.
02:05You know, the new shipping routes across the Arctic are going to dramatically change the shipping times from Asia to Europe and Asia to North America, not just the US.
02:18So, you know, this is a real opportunity.
02:21We don't need to get into a battle.
02:23I think that's what the Prime Minister was really saying.
02:26This is all about partnership, less rhetoric, and let's just focus on, you know, pragmatic, practical solutions.
02:33I thought that was a really good message, is less bullishness, it's all about diplomacy, and don't sort of, you know, hit the panic button.
02:44Well, in terms of that, Chris, just I want to ask you about the European response.
02:47We heard Emmanuel Macron asking the EU to activate the bloc's so-called bazooka, the anti-coercion instrument in response to these tariff threats.
02:56I mean, that's a really serious weapon, isn't it, to deploy if the EU does decide to do it?
03:01Yeah, the EU have serious muscles, so does Europe, for that matter.
03:06You know, if they really want to apply their muscle, you know, they've got, you know, not only the sort of so-called bazooka on trade tariffs,
03:13but they've also, they could limit access to U.S. bases, but the U.S. cannot operate without Europe, across the Middle East, Africa, certainly the Arctic,
03:25but also into Russia and Ukraine and elsewhere, without the help of Europe.
03:30And let's not forget that, that's not a one-way show here.
03:33They could, you know, push the bazooka, they could limit access to bases,
03:37they could also limit access to funding for U.S. military exports.
03:43You know, the U.S. or EU buy 50% of U.S. military exports.
03:49They don't need to do that.
03:50So there's some big levers to pull, but nobody wants to do that because we're all NATO partners.
03:57So I think the message today from the Prime Minister is let's be sensible.
04:01You know, this is a grown-up partnership that's well-developed.
04:05We don't need to get into those kind of conversations.
04:09We need to be just diplomatic, not put economic pressure on each other, and find a pragmatic solution.
04:17Chris, really appreciate your input.
04:19Thank you so much for that.
04:20Chris Southworth, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce in the U.K.
04:24Many thanks.
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