We might as well take the hit, if it wasn't this Donny would hit us with tariffs for not taking lhd cars that don't meet regulations, or for not taking expensive US made pharmaceuticals, or for not eating enough burgers, or not believing in bigfoot or suggesting the colour cyan is more blue than green, or not downloading the back epidodes of The Apprentice USA enough or something else.

At least we know we'll be in good company with the Heard and McDonald Islands he's put his big beautiful tariffs on. The penguins seem to be managing ok.

He's apparently also considering withdrawing US recognition of European overseas territories (e.g. Falklands) in protest over the lack of support for his Iran misadventure. Not quite sure how that lines up with the current state of his Diego Garcia flip-flop. Oh, and booting Spain out of NATO.

Carney seems to have the [1]correct analysis - rolling over will simply make things worse.

[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-carney-address-us-ties-trump/

It's an old lesson that Europe already knows too well: you cannot appease a tyrant.

It's an old lesson that Europe _should_ already know too well.

Didn't he last time people in the US made the mistake of voting for him, threaten to pull the US out of NATO?

I mean hypocrisy is expected from him, but most literal cartoon villains are at least consistent with what they want.

Because there's a writer behind the cartoon.

Trump flails about without anyone at the helm.

The US was never that keen on the UK keeping the Falklands. I guess they think it would be easier to get their hands on the theoretical oil reserves down their if they were dealing with Latin America not the UK.

The oil is real, but while Argentina is claiming everything belongs to them no company will risk the massive upfront cost of drilling in waters which are at least as nasty as the North sea.

Unfortunately for the tango tyrant, NATO has no mechanism for removing members...

the british will roll over any time the wealthy are threatened

Absolutely this. There's no point squandering vast amounts of time and political capital on vain attempts to mitigate and respond to the effects of capricious bullying like this, when they'll be rendered irrelevant by another abrupt obsession and change of target weeks down the line.

The best you can do is to not intentionally exacerbate the situation but to be prepared to respond firmly on your *own* terms and to take steps to cut your involvement with people like that, and countries who consider people like that fit to lead them.

Trump and his family seem to have significant economic investments in some of the countries he is targeting. A country might address its response to the person and not to the office. Not sure how the Marines will act if asked to seize back an overseas golf course for the personal benefit of the C-in-C.

By providing cover for Seabee Bulldozers!

Recovering several thousand tons of dirt and some little flags on sticks to the US.

Yup, give in to a demented bully and they just get worse.

Keep the tax, raise it every time he threatens a tariff, raise it again if he implements one.

This -> "Keep the tax, raise it every time he threatens a tariff, raise it again if he implements one."

is called 'giving him a dose of his own medicine'.

go for it people.

I'm not sure it's specifically a tax on US companies but anyone offering online services from outside the UK. I'm not sure how many other countries are affected but I suppose a tariff could be raised on US companies in addition.

> We might as well take the hit

Indeed. It would give UK customers a good incentive to ditch US products such as Windows, Azure, Oracle, salesfarce etc

Although The Dimwit may threaten to [1]withdraw access to Mastercard, Visa (and perhaps PayPal) to any country who refuses to kiss his ring, but probably he would chicken out of that like everything else

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/16/uk-bank-bosses-plan-visa-mastercard-alternative

We should revoke access to any land we own......

I asked the google question ::

"are uk companies taxed by the US if they operate in the US"

Response :

"Yes, UK companies operating in the US are generally taxed by the US on income connected to that trade. Under the US/UK double tax treaty, a UK company is subject to 21% Federal corporate tax on profits if it has a "permanent establishment" (e.g., fixed place of business or dependent agent) in the US"

For some reason the US seems to think it can operate tax free anywhere in the world, but you have to pay tax to the US if you operate in their country (in general, outside of treaty etc.)

The US has been big enough and powerful enough to have its cake and eat it for a very long time. I think most countries have until now just accepted that generally the plusses outweighed the minuses of letting the USA do what it wants. Every other US president has manged to walk the line of taking what it wants without taking so much the little people start to push back. The Orange one has no such restraint, he doesn't care what the outcome is from what he wants/demands. It's very much childish emperialism, I'm the king and I'll take what I want (or I'll take what I'm told to take by my backers) even if I don't need it or want it that much.

He is such a master of international trade

The joke being that he's not even the competent "dealmaker" rich businessman he was able to spend his life cosplaying off the back of a massive inheritance from his father.

He's no richer than he'd have been if he'd stuck that inheritance in a tracker fund.

Real "dealmakers" are successful because they stick to the "deal".

I disagree.

He's a good deal richer now that he has turned his tenure in the White House into a money-making scheme which, in my view, should be excuse enough to shoot him in the head without trial.

He is a discrace to the country he is supposed to represent, a disgrace to the very notion of Democracy, and simply a discraceful human being (if you can call that orange thing human).

I don't agree with the idea of offing him, that would just make a martyr of him and the MAGA cause.

Far better to have him arrested and made destitute but with free healthcare to keep him around looking like an overripe satsuma for as long as possible

After due process, of course.

I wonder how well those US companies would look if no-one outside the US would trade with them?

Perhaps that's more true in recent years. But he's done that via corruption and his populist ability to exploit the worst aspects of the American character (most likely because he *is* the epitome of that).

Not because he was ever a trustworthy or competent dealmaker.

Before that he was barely even breaking even *with* what he earned, or should have earned, as a reality TV star- again, not as a "dealmaker", but an idiot's stereotypical parody of one.

The tide is now flowing against the USA in this and other areas. His 'brilliant' strategies are harming the USA bigly.

If the UK says they'll split the proceeds with Trump Corp, the problem goes away?

That's the "art" of the "deal". Oil industry contributes to Trump, Trump goes all out against renewables and EVs. See how that works? One hand washes the other. You just gotta cross his palm with cash and bend the knee to kiss his ... ring.

Dumbo Donny can't comprehend that his own supreme court has already told him he does not have the authority to impose tariffs, only congress may set tariffs, not the president. Even his most brainwashed supporters are starting to understand that a tariff is paid by them, not by the countries the tariff is applied to.

But then again, this disgusting paedophile crook's days as president are numbered. So the correct answer to him from Starmer would be "Get lost, stupid.".

Quite why King Charles is going to visit a regime which is actively committing war crimes is beyond me. It legitimises Trump's actions, and that's the last thing which is needed right now.

Not quite, so far only the first method, the most theoretically powerful one, was ruled illegal. He has a whole catalog of other ways he thinks he's allowed to set tariffs, the second of which is currently in place. That is why there are still tariffs on current trade with the U.S. even as they're trying to figure out what to do about the last round of illegal ones and why there are more court proceedings about attempt number 2, and if those are struck down then they'll move on to law number 3 that looks like it gives some power over this.

>> a regime which is actively committing war crimes

Where are the sanctions? Where are the sequestrations of assets?

The truth is simple: Britain is a rump state.

And what interest does Trump have in a rump state?

/rhetorical question

No, Britain is a state that follows international law, as do most other countries.

"Quite why King Charles is going to visit a regime which is actively committing war crimes is beyond me. It legitimises Trump's actions, and that's the last thing which is needed right now."

Perhaps he'll stub his toe or something and be too lame to go.

Go ahead, it's working out tremendously bigly for you so far.

Krasnov is making Putin wet.

Here in the UK, we don't have much that the US wants apart from the UK as marketplace and the various military bases dotted around.

Surely it's only a matter of time before someone decides to push back against tarrif application with something that they really *do* want from the UK, e.g. the data/BMEWS from RAF Fylingdales, the take from RAF Menwith or other airbases.

Yes, that'd mean things were less geopolitically stable, but you could argue that that is already the case thanks to current US actions...

Stress him out as much as possible. Show no quarter.

He's near the edge now so every push helps toward Article 25. Next time he reaches for the nuke button ...

Tax on sales generated in the UK by US companies and tell the Orange Man-baby to do one. There's only really one way to deal with a bully and this is bullying.

I have have though the digital tax was stupid. It is only there because most goverments are 30 years behind the times. All foreign companies should be taxed as highly as UK companies and using fake expenses to reduce profits should be taxed double. ( I wonder what Starbucks is paying in corporation tax nowadays?)

The big benefit of Brexit could (should) have been the reduction of issues by corrupt EU commisioners that allowed Apple and Amazon to ride roughshod on UK taxes. We have got enough corruption of our own without another complete layer. Why did Mandelson get a job at the EU when he was too bent for the UK?

The UK already taxes that. This is a special tax for tech companies above existing ones for any international company operating in the UK. It mostly exists because those large tech companies have a lot of accountants and lawyers specializing in finding every way to legally not pay tax, and possibly some illegal ones but it has not been proven. They have an easier time of that because many of their products are intangible, which makes it easier to define value in ways that mean they're not taxable in the UK.

I still think this tax is a blunt tool which doesn't really fix the problem. The inclusion criteria are too arbitrary and basically just names a couple large companies as the only ones covered, making it quite easy to slip out of this tax for everyone else. It seems that the better approach, identifying the loopholes that are successfully used to avoid taxes but shouldn't be and then removing them, is too much work for politicians. The blanket tax also has international trade problems since it is specifically targeting specific companies from one country, which when others do it is considered a violation of trade treaties. With the US, that's not a major problem as they have already violated every trade treaty in existence so can't hope to get remedies in the WTO when they've broken the rules far more actively and substantially.

While I agree with your headline conclusion, I disagree that this is bullying. It's just grandstanding and showing off. Trump may well put tariffs up, but as others have pointed out here, that'll just backfire. It's more like a bully who threatens to punch you in the face, then as he walks over to do it, trips over his own shoelaces that he tied together because he is incompetent and smashes face first into the dirt.

It would be hilarious if it weren't the case that he's now sat in the middle of the road with a bloody nose and throwing a tantrum by refusing to move. All the traffic is building up parping their horns for him to bugger off. When you get to the pub later you find that the beer lorry got caught in the traffic and couldn't make it's delivery. But because of the strange way economic forces work, this means that while the pub still has beer, the price has strangely gone up. All because some orange idiot couldn't tie his own shoe laces properly.

Saint Peter and The Antichrists have obviously been feeling neglected recently, what with the Iran war and dementia taking all of their pet’s time and attention. They must have given Trump a poke.

They paid good money to get him elected so that their unbridled corporate raping of the world and corruption of public discourse could accelerate unabated, unbridled by such indignities as regulations, socially responsible (or even just acceptable) behaviour, or taxes.

We look forward to paying your tarrifs, oh wait I'm being told the tarrifs will be paid by dumb Americans.

We look forward to knowing that you paid even more than we usually fleece you for our whisky, shortbread and tartan.

...the odd lapse in into coherence...

or is that too much to ask, even by random chance?

Broken clock effect; but I can't remember the last time he was right.

When he’s not talking or posting.

It has kowtowed to Trump, and the USA in general, for decades. That is not strength. That is not a 'special relationship'. It is cowardice and weakness.

The USA knows this. Trump is bully enough to really turn the screws. But 'our' passive politicians will speak with the usual forked tongues about how this is 'wrong', then meekly fold and follow as usual.

The USA is not our friend. Trump merely exposes the truth of it.

Next up will be the invasion of Greenland or Canada, as stated by Trump. British 'politicians' will find a way to excuse this too.