Respect Trump’s mandate, handle disputes ‘directly and privately’, says Peter Mandelson | Foreign policy

Britain must respect Donald Trump’s “strong and clear mandate for change”, Peter Mandelson has said, but Keir Starmer’s government could “always make our views known privately and directly” to the US president.

Lord Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, said that in dealing with Trump, the government must “understand what drives him”.

It comes amid questions over how the UK will respond to global tariffs threatened by the White House. Mandelson acknowledged he was “concerned” about the looming prospect of tariffs and said Britain would “not necessarily agree” with every detail of the new US president’s agenda.

On how the UK could try to persuade Trump to change his position on certain policy areas without alienating his administration, Mandelson told the BBC: “Well, we’ve got to take all these issues as they come, realise that the president has a very strong and clear mandate for change in the US.

“Now that doesn’t mean to say that we’re going to agree in Britain with every single detail of what he does, but we have to respect and understand what drives him, what his mandate is to do, and how his allies need to adjust sometimes.

“And I believe that, given the relationship that we have, we can always make our views known – best, by the way, directly and privately.

“We have a strong relationship that enables us to influence the president and his policies where necessary, and it certainly should not affect our ability to work well together, and that’s what I intend remains the case.”

The president has said he plans to impose 25% tariffs on “any steel coming into the United States”, adding that aluminium will also be subject to additional duties.

The British government is waiting to see details of the policy, but the steel industry body has called for decisive action from ministers while unions warned further jobs could be put at risk in an already crippled sector.

Britain exported 166,433 tonnes of steel to the US in 2023, the last full year for which figures are available. Figures from trade body UK Steel showed that in 2024 about 162,716 tonnes were sent to the US, but that does not yet include data from December.

The president has previously suggested a deal could be done to exempt the UK from his wider agenda on tariffs, while claiming Britain is “out of line” in its trading relationship with the US.

Mandelson, a former minister and key architect of Labour’s renewal in the 1990s, said his “priority” in his new role would be to help encourage an investment relationship with the US fit for the 21st century.

“Each of us wants to grow our economies,” he said.

“I think that what we need to do is to build a technology and investment relationship between the US and the UK that’s fit for the 21st century. That’s where I want to focus.

“We’re going to depend in growing our economy on private investment, foreign investment, a large amount of which is going to come from the United States of America.”

Reports have suggested the prime minister might visit Washington in the coming weeks, though Downing Street has not confirmed any upcoming travel.

With PA Media