A government minister has described the US tarriffs on steel and aluminium "disappointing" as they take effect today. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray confirmed the UK are in negotiations with the US "as we speak" but said the government is unlikely to immediately retaliate. Report by Kennedyl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00It's disappointing that the U.S. has imposed global steel tariffs, which affect countries
00:04around the world, including the U.K.
00:06The U.K. wants to champion open and free trade, but our response to this is going to be a
00:11pragmatic one, because we're in negotiations with the U.S. as we speak, making rapid progress
00:17toward an economic agreement, and those negotiations come out of the back of the prime minister's
00:23visit to Washington, D.C., last month.
00:25So we're going to respond with a cool head.
00:26We're going to make sure we keep engaging closely and productively with the U.S., because
00:31we know that getting a deal is in the best interests of British business and the British
00:35public.
00:36So all options are on the table.
00:37We reserve our right to retaliate, but we're not going to have a knee-jerk response.
00:41We're going to respond with cool heads and make sure that we continue negotiating towards
00:45the economic agreement, which has the potential to eliminate additional tariffs and is a process
00:50that comes out of the back of the prime minister's successful visit to Washington last month.