Government ‘doesn’t think’ Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on UK – but is ‘prepared for all scenarios’
The government doesn’t think Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on the UK, but is “prepared for all scenarios”, a cabinet minister has said.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the former president’s return to the White House “could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities”.
Mr Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on all imports into the United States, singling out Canada, Mexico, and China as countries that could face steeper measures within hours of his inauguration on Monday.
Asked what the government will do if that happens to the UK, Mr Jones said that was a “hypothetical” question and to wait and see “what actually happens”.
Politics Hub: Trump ‘within his right’ to make statement on tariffs
“If that were to happen, I will come back and lay out the details for you. But the point is, is that I don’t think we’re going to be in that scenario,” Mr Jones said.
Darren Jones
He said there is a narrative in the UK that Mr Trump’s presidency poses “a big risk for Britain”, when this isn’t the case.
“Britain is a brilliant country with huge capabilities and assets which are valued not just to the British people, but to the American economy and other parts of the world,” he said.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that under the Trump administration there are going to be plenty of opportunities that we can seize, and we should be positive about that and be strong about securing this deal.”
Mr Jones confirmed there is ultimately a plan if tariffs are imposed, but said it isn’t for him “to lay out the details in advance of something actually happening on TV”.
“It’s not breaking news that the government prepares for all scenarios,” he added.
“My broader point is that we shouldn’t be looking at president-elect Trump’s inauguration as a risk, or a bad thing for the UK. It could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities.”
President-elect Trump will be sworn in to a second term in office on Monday, following his election victory in November, and there have been concerns over what his pledged tariffs could mean for economies around the globe.
The former businessman has been clear he plans to pick up where he left off in 2021 by taxing goods coming into the country, making them more expensive, in a bid to protect US industry and jobs.
Read more:
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Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, who is in Washington DC for the inauguration, said Mr Trump is “within his rights to make the statements that he wants around tariffs… but as ever this is a discussion and a negotiation”.
Priti Patel in Washington DC
She said the Labour government should resume her party’s talks over a post-Brexit free trade deal with the US and “not even enter into these discussions around tariffs”.
A trade deal with the US had been set as a priority in the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto but was not achieved by the time of the general election in July last year, which they lost.
Ms Patel went on to call Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a “pop-up act” and “not relevant” when asked if her party should make peace with him to get on well with Mr Trump, given the close relationship of the pair.
She said the Conservatives and Republicans are “sister parties” with “enduring, long-standing ties”.
“We’re not a pop-up act in the way in which they [Reform UK] are… so I don’t think that’s particularly relevant,” she said.
However, the Lib Dems accused the former home secretary of “competing with Reform to be most submissive toward Trump”.
Confidence in Mandelson’s appointment
Mr Trump’s inauguration has also caused a stir after reports in the Sunday papers suggested he could reject Lord Peter Mandelson as Sir Keir Starmer’s nomination for the UK’s ambassador to the US.
The Labour grandee has been critical of Mr Trump in the past, and was last month branded an “absolute moron” by a Trump campaigner.
Lord Mandelson. Pic: PA
However Mr Jones signalled he was confident that the Blair-era minister would take up his position, telling Sky News he “doubts very much” the media reports are true.
“It’s probably being propagated by some politicians that would like to cause a bit of a nuisance. I doubt that will be the case.”
Govt ‘doesn’t agree’ with Khan’s Trump comments
Mr Jones was also forced to distance himself from comments made by Labour’s Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
Mr Khan has warned of a century-defining battle against “resurgent fascism”, writing in The Observer that “these are deeply worrying times, especially if you’re a member of a minority community”.
Mr Jones said he does not associate with that language and questions about it “are for Sadiq to answer.”
He later told the BBC: “I speak on behalf of the government and we don’t agree with it.”
Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman intensified chatter about a 2026 Senate run by posting a video days after Senator Cynthia Lummis announced she will not seek reelection.
The five-second clip shows the congresswoman alongside a single-word caption: “Soon.” It breaks a months‑long lull on her account and bolsters speculation that she is eyeing Lummis’ open seat.
Wyoming’s Senate seat has been a reliable voice in advancing regulatory clarity for the crypto industry, from market structure bills and stablecoin regulation to banking access. Whoever replaces Lummis will help decide whether crypto keeps a dedicated champion in the Senate.
A crypto ally steps down
Lummis is expected to retire at the end of her term, removing one of the digital‑asset industry’s most outspoken allies from the Senate just as lawmakers edge toward potential votes on landmark market‑structure legislation.
Lummis has built a national profile as a reliable pro‑crypto voice, embracing Bitcoin early and co‑sponsoring legislative efforts widely viewed to advance the blockchain industry, including the Responsible Financial Innovation Act and the ongoing US Clarity Act.
Her pending exit leaves the industry without a guaranteed champion in a chamber that has become increasingly central to decisions on trading‑platform oversight, stablecoin rules and banking access for crypto firms.
Related: Crypto community ‘very sorry’ over Senator Lummis’ reelection decision
Hageman’s record and crypto’s hopes
As Wyoming’s at‑large House member, she has so far focused on broader conservative themes like parental rights in education, opposition to federal overreach and backing pro‑fossil fuel energy policies, while aligning herself with President Donald Trump. A Senate campaign would test how much she is willing to lean into Lummis’ crypto legacy alongside those priorities.
Wyoming’s crypto community is already nudging her in that direction. Caitlin Long, founder of Custodia Bank and a key architect of the state’s blockchain‑friendly laws, praised Hageman as “salt of the earth.” Long was reacting to news of Hageman’s expected entry in the race.
Related: Crypto among sectors ‘debanked’ by 9 major banks: US regulator
Long’s backing effectively introduces Hageman to crypto audiences as the preferred successor, even though the House member has not yet made digital assets a signature focus.
Wyoming’s 2026 Senate race is now poised to double as a test of whether the state wants to preserve its identity as home to the Senate’s most visible crypto advocate, or fold digital asset policy into a broader Trump‑era Republican agenda.
Bybit will begin phasing out services for residents of Japan from 2026, introducing gradual account restrictions as it moves to comply with the country’s regulatory requirements, the cryptocurrency exchange said on Monday.
The exchange said users classified as Japanese residents will be subject to the restrictions on a rolling basis, while those incorrectly flagged have been asked to complete additional identity checks. Bybit is not registered with Japan’s Financial Services Agency, which requires crypto exchanges serving Japanese users to hold local approval.
“If you’re a resident of Japan, please note that starting from 2026 your account will be subject to gradual restrictions. You’ll receive additional updates on the remediation process in subsequent communications,” the exchange said in an announcement on Monday.
Bybit often ranks as the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume. At the time of writing, it processed about $4.3 billion in trades in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.
Related: Japan plans tough new rules for crypto exchanges: What liability reserves actually mean
Bybit halts new user registrations
The announcement follows earlier steps taken by Bybit to limit its exposure to Japan. In October, the exchange said it would pause new user registrations in Japan, citing ongoing discussions with the country’s Financial Services Agency (FSA).
In February, the FSA asked Apple and Google to suspend downloads of five unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bybit, MEXC Global, LBank Exchange, KuCoin and Bitget.
Japan maintains one of the world’s strictest crypto oversight regimes. In July, Maksym Sakharov, co-founder and CEO of decentralized onchain bank WeFi, told Cointelegraph that Japan’s regulatory bottleneck is pushing innovation out of the country.
Bybit did not respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment by press time.
Related: Japan’s new crypto tax could wake ‘sleeping giant’ of retail investors
Bybit reenters the UK
Meanwhile, Bybit is reentering the UK market after a two-year pause with a new platform offering spot trading and a peer-to-peer service, operating under a promotions arrangement approved by Archax rather than its own UK registration.
Last month, Bybit also secured a Virtual Asset Platform Operator License from the Securities and Commodities Authority of the United Arab Emirates, eight months after receiving an in-principle approval from the local regulator.
Magazine: 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto — Canton, Zcash and more
A millionaires’ playground, Poole in Dorset boasts some of the most expensive properties in the UK, and has been called Britain’s Palm Beach.
Away from the yachts and the mansions of Sandbanks, however, Poole is also a beer drinkers’ paradise, with 58 pubs in the parliamentary constituency alone.
But now many of Dorset’s pub landlords have joined a bitter backlash against rises in business rates of up to £30,000 in Rachel Reeves’s November budget.
Across the UK, it is claimed up to 1,000 publicans have even banned Labour MPs from their pubs, after the chancellor axed a 40% rates discount, introduced during COVID, from next April.
The row over the rises, brewing since the budget, came to a head in a clash between Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer in the final Prime Minister’s Questions of 2025.
“He gave his word that he would help pubs,” said the Tory leader.
“Yet they face a 15% rise in business rates because of his budget. Will he be honest and admit that his taxes are forcing pubs to close?”
The PM replied that the temporary relief introduced during COVID – a scheme the Conservatives put in place and Labour supported, he said – had come to an end.
“But it was always a temporary scheme coming to an end,” he said.
“We have now put in place a £4bn transitional relief.”
Mark and Michael Ambrose, father and son co-landlords of The Barking Cat, said the increases are a ‘pub destroyer’
But in the Barking Cat Ale House in Poole, facing an increase in business rates of nearly £9,000 a year, the father and son co-landlords fear the rises could mean last orders for many pubs.
“We’re sort of in the average area at 157%, but we’ve got a lot of local pubs that are increasing by 600%, and another one by 800%,” Ambrose senior, Mark, told Sky News.
“It’s a pub destroyer. Pubs can’t survive these kinds of increases. It’s not viable. Most pubs are just about scraping by anyway. If you add these massive increases your profit margins are wiped out.
“We struggle as it is. You can’t have that kind of increase and expect businesses to succeed.
“Fortunately, the customers understand. But they still don’t want to have to spend an extra 30 or 50 pence a pint.”
Son Michael added: “It’s all back to front. It’s really these bigger pub companies and supermarkets that need to be facing increased taxes. We can’t handle them. They can.”
Michelle Smith, landlady of the Poole Arms, the oldest pub on the town’s quay, dating back to 1635, said: “Our rates per value is due to go up £9,000 in April, so it’s quite a deal.”
Michelle Smith, landlady of The Poole Arms, said all her prices are going up
“And we had a rates increase just gone as well,” she added. “So our rates had already increased over £1,000 a month last April. So another hit is quite considerable really.
“Prices definitely have to go up with all the different price increases that we’ve got throughout: business rates, wage increases, the beer goes up from the breweries. Everything is going up.”
Backing the publicans, Neil Duncan-Jordan, who became Poole’s first ever Labour MP last year, has written to the chancellor demanding a rethink. He said he is prepared to vote against the tax rise in the Commons.
“They’ve got to listen,” he told Sky News.
“They’ve got to listen to the high street, to publicans, people who run social clubs and listen to problems that they’re facing and the impact that these changes have made.”
Mr Duncan-Jordan said he was prepared to support an amendment to the Finance Bill, which turns the budget into law and had its second reading in the Commons last week.
Despite being suspended for four months for rebelling against welfare cuts earlier this year, he said: “I was discussing this with some MPs just this morning and I’ll be happy to support those. Sometimes you just have to say what you think is right.”
As chancellor, Ms Reeves has regularly raised a glass to pubs and promised to protect them from rising costs.
But Sir Keir has faced the wrath of a publican before, when he was thrown out of a pub in Bath during COVID by an anti-lockdown landlord.
This time, without a U-turn by the chancellor on the business rates increases, pub landlords fear the government has them over a barrel.
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