American buyers of British goods have paid $1.36 billion in tariffs in just four months since President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” trade shock — a sixfold increase compared with the same period in 2024, according to estimates by the US International Trade Commission.
The data, reported by The Times and The Sunday Times, shows that Britain is being penalised more heavily than some European rivals, despite concessions won in its new trade deal with Washington. Between April and July, US imports from France incurred roughly $1.35 billion in duties, while those from Spain were hit with $615 million.
The UK’s trade agreement with the US, which secured lower tariffs on key sectors such as steel and automotive exports, came into effect at the end of June. A government spokesman defended the deal, saying Britain had achieved “the lowest tariffs of any country on autos and steel” and stressing that future agreements would always be signed “in the national interest.”
The figures highlight the broader scale of Trump’s protectionist policies. Imports from China generated $36 billion in tariff revenue over the same four months — more than double the amount collected in 2024 — while duties on goods from Mexico and Japan totalled $7.6 billion and $6.5 billion respectively. British exports ranked 12th in terms of tariff exposure, a sharp rise from the $211 million in duties paid during the same period last year.
Trump has since raised the tariff rate on EU exports to 15 per cent as of August 7, though this change is not yet reflected in the trade commission’s data. British exports, by contrast, remain subject to a 10 per cent tariff.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated that the US collected about $122 billion in tariff revenue between January and July this year, with $40 billion coming from industrial intermediates and $39 billion from consumer goods. Revenues from capital goods and raw materials were far smaller, at $4.3 billion and $206 million respectively.
According to Yale University’s Budget Lab, the average effective US tariff rate now stands at 18.6 per cent — the highest since 1933. Sam Lowe, a trade expert at consultancy Flint Global, warned that tariff revenue is likely to continue growing in the short term, though higher costs could eventually reduce trade volumes: “You could expect tariff revenue to continue to grow, but volumes either grow at a slower rate or fall because the tariff itself will have an impact on the amount of trade as well.”
