Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mel Stride, has warned that "trillions of dollars" have been wiped off global markets following Donald Trump's sweeping tariff announcement.
The stark warning comes as financial markets continue to reel from the US President's "liberation day" declaration on Wednesday.
Stride emphasised the urgent need for a UK-US trade deal as markets tumble.
Stride said: "You're seeing trillions of dollars now wiped off markets worldwide.
"It's been a little bit less severe actually in the UK than it has in the United States and other European countries, particularly Germany.
"This is what happens when you come forward and slap huge tariffs on trade. Of course, there is a lot of uncertainty now about how other parts of the world are going to react to that in terms of retaliatory tariffs as well.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
"So yes, a very worrying time. It's a worrying time for jobs.
"It's a worrying time for consumers and prices going up and increasing pressures on employment and an upward pressure on unemployment for us, which is why we've really got to get this deal done now with the United States."
Stephen Dixon asked: "Is Nigel Farage right when he says, we basically had a deal three-quarters of the way done back in 2016.
"Whatever reason, the Tories in their last term didn't get this all properly sorted out. But is that deal there as far as you know?"
Stride responded: "Well, he's well he's absolutely right in saying that in the first Trump presidency, we had made very substantial progress towards a free trade deal.
"Of course, we then ran into the Biden presidency and Covid impacts and so on, and the Biden administration was just not interested in doing a free trade deal. That was the big change.
"So this Government has had that progress to build upon. And I think it is regrettable, though, that it took over four months for our business secretary to get in the same room as his American counterpart in order to try and close that deal and do the extra hard yards to get it over the line.
"And we really need to see the Government moving at pace now and gripping this to make sure that we can get in a position when we're not facing those additional tariffs on the UK economy."
The FTSE 100 extended its losses on Friday morning as investor concerns deepened.
London's FTSE 100 Index dropped by 0.68 per cent to 8,416.71 in early trading on Friday morning, continuing the downward trend seen since Trump's tariff announcement.
This marks the second consecutive day of losses, with the index having fallen to its lowest level in almost three months during Thursday's trading.
The decline follows the news that British exports to the US would face a blanket 10 per cent tariff under Trump's new trade policy.
Find Out More...
The stark warning comes as financial markets continue to reel from the US President's "liberation day" declaration on Wednesday.
Stride emphasised the urgent need for a UK-US trade deal as markets tumble.
Stride said: "You're seeing trillions of dollars now wiped off markets worldwide.
"It's been a little bit less severe actually in the UK than it has in the United States and other European countries, particularly Germany.
"This is what happens when you come forward and slap huge tariffs on trade. Of course, there is a lot of uncertainty now about how other parts of the world are going to react to that in terms of retaliatory tariffs as well.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Labour council wanting to employ 'global majority' tells staff to take 'white privilege' test
- Nigel Farage refuses to confirm whether he wants to be Prime Minister THREE times
- Nigel Farage admits he 'hasn't spoken to White House' since Trump second term
"So yes, a very worrying time. It's a worrying time for jobs.
"It's a worrying time for consumers and prices going up and increasing pressures on employment and an upward pressure on unemployment for us, which is why we've really got to get this deal done now with the United States."
Stephen Dixon asked: "Is Nigel Farage right when he says, we basically had a deal three-quarters of the way done back in 2016.
"Whatever reason, the Tories in their last term didn't get this all properly sorted out. But is that deal there as far as you know?"
Stride responded: "Well, he's well he's absolutely right in saying that in the first Trump presidency, we had made very substantial progress towards a free trade deal.
"Of course, we then ran into the Biden presidency and Covid impacts and so on, and the Biden administration was just not interested in doing a free trade deal. That was the big change.
"So this Government has had that progress to build upon. And I think it is regrettable, though, that it took over four months for our business secretary to get in the same room as his American counterpart in order to try and close that deal and do the extra hard yards to get it over the line.
"And we really need to see the Government moving at pace now and gripping this to make sure that we can get in a position when we're not facing those additional tariffs on the UK economy."
The FTSE 100 extended its losses on Friday morning as investor concerns deepened.
London's FTSE 100 Index dropped by 0.68 per cent to 8,416.71 in early trading on Friday morning, continuing the downward trend seen since Trump's tariff announcement.
This marks the second consecutive day of losses, with the index having fallen to its lowest level in almost three months during Thursday's trading.
The decline follows the news that British exports to the US would face a blanket 10 per cent tariff under Trump's new trade policy.
Find Out More...