LBC News welcomed Made in Britain’s CEO, John Pearce (pictured, left), onto the airwaves on April 11 to discuss the impact of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on exports across the world, as well as his verdict on a recent Liberal Democrat push calling for the government to back a ‘buy British’ campaign; something Made in Britain has championed and frontlined since its inception over 10 years ago.
When asked if the UK’s “cool and calm” approach to the tariffs is reassuring to British businesses, John said it is “probably the right approach, as the reactionary part of this is never going to be helpful.
“Made in Britain tries to be a consistent voice for progressive, interesting, relevant companies that all manufacture essential products. Across our 2,155 members, we have over 50 different product sectors, so we have manufacturers making everything you can imagine.
“They’d all agree we have to be cool and calm in our response to these tariffs, and as we’ve all agreed, trying to work out the arithmetic makes it almost impossible to work out what the net positive or negative will be for almost anyone.”
By way of response to these tariffs, John called for action on the UK’s trade deal with the European Union post-Brexit, saying that while it won’t be easy to repair trade relations, it “has to happen sooner rather than later.”
Government-backed ‘Buy British’ campaign
John was also asked about a recent call to action by the Liberal Democrats, calling for a government-backed ‘buy British’ scheme to support British manufacturers in the wake of President Trump’s tariff announcements, to which he responded: “We’ve been saying that for ten years, so I’m glad they’ve caught up with us!
“Made in Britain is very much a permanent campaign. We are the voice of our members, and the narrative has been about ten years of success within British manufacturing. There are lots of opportunities for people to understand what is being made here. We do like to think we provide a bit of the evidence as to why you should be buying something made in Britain.
“If people have evidence, they get the Made in Britain mark, people will have seen products all over the place that are identified as being Made in Britain by our members. It’s a registered trademark that belongs to the manufacturers, which I think is important as well.
“You can’t get people to buy British products if the products aren’t made here.”
He went on to highlight the importance of the Made in Britain news database as a form of buy British campaigning in its own right, spotlighting member manufacturers and the evidenced work they do to promote local innovation and development.
You can listen back to John’s interview on LBC News - the UK’s most listened to 24-hour rolling national news programme at 974,000 weekly listeners - by visiting the Global Player website or app, with a link to the episode being found here, and the interview starting at the 1:44:30 mark.
By Made in Britain 1 week ago | Media coverage