London, UK – Louise Verity, a 42-year-old businesswoman from Northampton, a small town in the heart of England, has been worried about Trump tariff Since she first heard that they were brewing in January.

Her business is books, selling literary gifts to book lovers – prints, art, stickers, all related to classic literature.

Her sales exceed 60% are for the United States. Now, they will be hit by 10% tariffs, which is milder than taxes for other countries, but still serious enough.

“I kept following the news, refreshing all night, waiting for what’s going to happen,” she told Al Jazeera.

“The 10% tariff in the UK could be worse. I think if it is 30%, I’m going to give up and wait for everything to collapse. Try to absorb a lot. Another thing is, what do we say to our customers? I don’t have any useful information.”

She hopes that large businesses will only pass on the extra costs to consumers, something she can’t do. “I can’t say to everyone, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.’ Because I don’t know,” she added.

Verity is like thousands of business owners of all sizes around the world trying to do math to see if they can stay on track despite the taxes, which is President Donald Trump’s attempt to boost U.S. finances at the cost of almost everyone else.

Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Small Business Federation, said: “The news of 10% tariffs on U.S. trade in the UK is a major blow to SMEs. Currently, 59% of small UK exporters exporters are sold to the U.S. market. Tariffs will cause damage to small businesses, attempts to cause damage to their own economy, while keeping it flat in the domestic economy.

The consequences, she predicts, will “suffer growth, hurt opportunities, and create severe dents in the global economy. Now we need to study fine prints to determine exactly what it means to small UK exporters.”

Condemnation is common.

“We can’t find such an argument after discussing “subtle reasoned arguments” in support of Trump’s tariff strategy.

The sentiment resonated with many other observers, including a senior analyst at Swiss bank Ipek Ozkardeskaya, who told clients: “Trump’s tariff announcement was worse than expected.”

“Universal tariffs are set at 10% – in line with expectations – but the tariffs imposed on major trading partners are much higher than: 34% for China, 20% for Europe, and about 24% for Japan imports. The UK has smaller losses, while Vietnam and Vietnam and Vietnam have smaller losses. Lesotho The tariff rates were 46% and 50% respectively, which was the worst hit. ”

In theory, the state can now negotiate with the United States to lower its interest rates.

The market’s reaction to all of this is bad and predictable. The market is almost everywhere. Oil prices are a decent measure of expected global growth, below $70 a barrel.

Nike stock, which made many shoes in Vietnam factories, fell 14% with the announcement of tariffs.

“Short-term damage is inevitable”

At first, people were somewhat relieved, and the UK’s tariff rates were lower than those in the EU.

Some people think it is evidence that Britain has a stronger relationship with Washington, especially in Tensions increase Between Trump’s administration and the EU.

But Simon French of Panmure Liberum, a London-based stockbroker, said: “That doesn’t mean it. It’s about everything an eight-year-old can do for long-term use, and there’s no special UK in the UK.”

“If it is true that these tariffs are indeed permanent, then it is impossible, given that government officials believe negotiations will be possible. But given that short-term interference is inevitable, given the April 5 court, it is impossible if short-term interference is inevitable.

There is help on governments, especially small businesses, to protect jobs and wages.

“The consumer goods, health care and industrial sectors will be the most affected by the new measures,” Field said. “What’s worse is that it may be reply Possible reactions from the EU and the U.S. government. All of this will exacerbate the losses in export and import operations. The next few weeks will tell if the activity is likely to reshape global trade, or if many predict there is an agreement to reach it. ”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he will “keep his head cool”.

Can he make Trump look like a vision?

An old economic cliché is that when the United States sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. This should describe how the US downturn ripples outward.

But in the Antarctic McDonald’s Islands and McDonald’s Islands face 10% tariffs. Since these are occupied only by penguins, it seems unlikely that we will increase the additional taxes from the area.