BoE’s Lombardelli says US trade tariffs would pose risk to economic growth, FT reports

(Reuters) – Bank of England’s Clare Lombardelli said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs would pose a risk to economic growth in countries including the UK, she told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday.

The deputy governor said it was too early to quantify the effects of Trump’s proposed tariffs but that BoE interest-rate-setters would discuss trade developments in upcoming meetings, according to the newspaper.

“I don’t want to speculate on the specifics but we know barriers to trade are not a good thing, whether they are tariffs or regulatory or others,” Lombardelli said.

The comments in the interview came as Trump said on Monday he would sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all products coming from Mexico and Canada to the United States.

On Monday, the deputy governor said she was more worried about the risk that inflation comes in higher – not lower – than the central bank has forecast as she made the case for only gradual reductions in interest rates.

The central bank has lowered rates twice since August, dropping to 4.75% from a 16-year high of 5.25%, less than cuts by the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve due mostly to concerns about inflation pressure in the UK jobs market.