UK expects continued favourable trade with U.S. after Supreme Court ruling

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Britain ‌expects its privileged ​trading ​position with the United States to continue after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, ‌the government said on Friday.

In April last year, Trump ⁠announced "reciprocal" tariffs on goods imported from most U.S. trading partners, including Britain, invoking the ‌International Emergency Economic Powers ‌Act, or IEEPA. On Friday, the Supreme Court said Trump's use of IEEPA exceeded his authority.

The baseline tariff that Britain faced under ​the reciprocal tariffs was 10%.

However, Friday's ruling will not impact most bilateral trade under Britain's separate tariff deal with Washington, which ⁠largely involves specific sectoral duties under different U.S. powers.

"The UK enjoys the lowest reciprocal tariffs ​globally, and under any scenario we expect our privileged trading position with the US to continue", a British government ​spokesperson said in a statement.

"We will ‌work with the (U.S.) Administration to understand how the ruling will affect tariffs for the UK and the rest ⁠of the world."

The spokesperson said the government would support British businesses when further details are announced.

William Bain, head of trade at the British Chambers of ⁠Commerce (BCC), said the ruling did "little to clear the murky waters for business."

It was ​also unclear how U.S. businesses could reclaim import levies paid and whether British businesses would be entitled to a share of any rebate, Bain said.

"For the ‌UK, the  priority  remains  bringing  tariffs down wherever possible," he said, citing an agreement to bring down steel tariffs under the ‌U.S.-UK tariff deal which has yet to be implemented.

"Any competitive advantage that ⁠we can secure is likely ‌to help boost our ​exports to the single country, globally, we do most trade with."

(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Muvija MEditing by ‌William Schomberg)

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