Stock markets set to fall, Bank of England deputy governor warns; Trump threatens UK with ‘big tariff’ over digital services tax – business live

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The threat of a new UK-US trade war has reared up again, after Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on US social media firms.

Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Thursday, the US president said:

“We’ve been looking at it and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful.

“If they don’t drop the tax, we’ll probably put a big tariff on the UK.”