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US president Donald Trump’s threatened global tariffs could be a silver lining for the UK, according to the boss of a top bank.
Charlie Nunn, who runs Lloyds Bank, the largest mortgage lender in the UK, said that he was optimistic about growth for the UK economy but it need to be “accelerated”.
If Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs hit other countries, this could offer an opportunity for the UK, he added.
The UK – along with other countries – is bracing for the prospect of US tariffs foreshadowed by Trump to protect US industry, with the president this week threatening China with a 10 per cent levy on all imports as soon as next month.
“If tariffs do hit the rest of the world, I think the rest of the world will slow down but the UK with the structure of its economy – more services based, very international, no supply chains heavily into the US – there’s an opportunity for the UK to really stand out,” Mr Nunn said.
The International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook report, published on Friday, indicates that Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) is on track to grow by 1.6 per cent in 2025, up on the 1.5 per cent it predicted last October.
The IMF said growth is now expected to accelerate to 1.6 per cent in 2025 and 1.5 per cent in 2026, outstripping fellow European economies in Germany, France and Italy.
It comes as Santander, another of Britian’s biggest lenders, is reportedly considering quitting the UK in favour of expanding in the US.
The Spanish bank entered the UK market in the wake of the financial crisis when it bought Abbey National.
“The Chancellor has talked about having set the foundations and having got the foundations right. That was really important,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Davos.
“We didn’t have an economic plan for the UK that was stable and in a good place. But what we will see over the next few months is the things they have talked about need to now be accelerated and they need to come at pace… but the opportunity to get growth going is really available for the UK. When we just look at the broader landscape this year, we see growth probably accelerating in the US.”
