MPs urge residents to back local businesses in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs
4 April 2025
‘Buy Hertfordshire, Back Britain’ - that’s the rallying cry from local Lib Dem MPs, Daisy Cooper, MP for St Albans, and Victoria Collins, MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, as they launch a campaign to support local businesses in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs announced this week.
Daisy and Victoria are calling for local residents to back our fantastic Hertfordshire businesses, whilst also calling on the government again to come forward with a raft of measures to help local businesses and high streets too.
Daisy said:
“People in St Albans and across the country are deeply worried about what Trump’s trade war means for their living standards, and want to know what they can do to help. We need to bring our local community and country together, and show collectively that we won’t take Trump’s tariffs lying down.
“That’s why I’m urging St Albans residents to ‘Buy Hertfordshire, Back Britain’ - to get out and show our support for our fantastic local shops, producers and hospitality venues on our high streets. By rallying around businesses at the heart of our St Albans community and economy, we can strengthen our economy and stand up to Trump’s tariffs.
“As part of a national effort to back British businesses, the government should launch a campaign to encourage people to Buy British and support our high streets. This must be bolstered with a raft of serious measures to unleash the potential of our businesses locally and nationwide, including overhauling the business rates system that’s limited the growth of St Albans businesses for far too long, scrapping the jobs tax, and fixing our trading relationship with the EU.
“Ministers also need to rule out making concessions to Trump that would damage our local farmers, threaten the NHS or undermine the online safety for our children.
“We need to send Trump a clear message that Britain will not be bullied, by rallying around our fantastic businesses here in St Albans and across the country, and working with our Commonwealth and European allies abroad.”
Victoria said:
“With the onset of Trump’s tariffs, I know local residents and businesses alike will be deeply concerned about how this’ll impact them, and our economy on the whole.
“With the government’s jobs tax about to come into force, the flawed business rates system continuing to stifle the growth of brilliant local businesses, and Trump’s trade war now unfolding, our local high streets need our community’s backing more than ever.
“I’m therefore encouraging everyone to ‘Buy Hertfordshire, Back Britain’ - to play their part in supporting businesses at the heart of our local economy through this deeply challenging time.
“Whilst we Liberal Democrats will be continuing to call on the government to rethink their damaging policies set to up costs for local businesses, by shopping local we can all play our part in fighting for them in our everyday lives.”
It was recently estimated that Trump’s tariffs could wipe out up to 1% of GDP which would push many British businesses to the wall. The measures announced by the US President on Wednesday (2 April) will see 10% tariffs on UK exports and 25% tariffs on all automotive exports to the US.
The Liberal Democrats have outlined a number of steps the government should already be taking to back British businesses in the face of Trump’s tariffs and stagnant economic growth. They included scrapping the growth-crushing jobs tax coming into effect on 6 April, overhauling the broken business rates system, and negotiating a bespoke EU-UK customs union to unlock growth.