>> hello. good evening, it's me, jacob rees—mogg on state of the nation. tonight, the united kingdom faces a fork in the road as donald trump's trade war begins. but could his tariffs represent the defibrillation of our economy? meanwhile, the government is on the cusp of betraying brexit by aligning the uk's net zero policy to the eu's destroying british industry, such as remains. labour has also quietly decriminalised illegal migration in its new border surrender bill. i'll be explaining why shortly. plus, should it be legal to burn a holy text? recent events across europe have sparked the discussion. so tonight we'll be ending with a discussion on blasphemy. activist, author and pubuc blasphemy. activist, author and public intellectual ayaan hirsi ali joins me in just a moment. state of the nation starts now.

i'll also be joined by my most formidable panel, telegraph columnist tim stanley and former labour mp lloyd russell—moyle. as ever, it's a crucial part of the programme. let me know your views mailmogg@gbnews.com. but now it's your favourite time of the day. it's the news bulletin with aaron armstrong. with aaron arm strong. >> with aaron armstrong. >> very good evening to you. our top stories. a 15 year old boy has died after a stabbing at a school in sheffield. the victim was airlifted to hospital after the incident at all saints catholic high school just after midday, but died a short time later. south yorkshire police have confirmed a 15 year old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody. a criminal investigation is underway. a 14 year old girl who stabbed two

teachers in a pupil has been found guilty of attempted murder. the jury saw cctv footage showing the pupil in the school hall, where she appeared to stab, appear to stab the knife she would later use in the attack into the floor. the girl, who can't be named for legal reasons, is then seen attacking assistant head teacher fiona euas assistant head teacher fiona elias and colleague liz hopkins. they, along with a pupil, were hospitalised after the attack at amman valley school in carmarthenshire last april. well, the prime minister was asked about the attack in sheffield while taking questions from reporters in brussels ahead of a dinner with eu leaders. >> the terrible. >> the terrible. >> stabbing in sheffield is one where i think the whole country would want to reach out to the family, to the friends, to the school, the entire community in their grief and mourn with them. obviously there'll be an investigation, but i think at this point i simply speak for

the country on behalf to the to the country on behalf to the to the individuals affected, to the family in particular, but everybody impacted by this awful situation. a young boy has gone to school and hasn't returned home. and so my first thoughts as prime minister and as a father are with the family. >> well, the prime minister also says the uk won't be forced to choose between the us and the eu and intends to maintain good ties with both. sir keir starmer made the comments after talks with the nato boss mark rutte, ahead of that eu leader's dinner in brussels. it came amid the prospect of a trade war with the us, after donald trump said he plans to hit the eu with tariffs , plans to hit the eu with tariffs, and the us president has confirmed he will delay imposing tariffs on mexico for a month, and has hinted the uk may escape and has hinted the uk may escape a similar sanction. trump stated the uk is out of line, but has

suggested a deal might be worked out after constructive conversations with the prime minister. trump announced 25% tariffs on canada and mexico and 10% for china, but he has announced a temporary reprieve for mexico after, in his words, a very friendly conversation with president claudia sheinbaum. a global markets did slump earlier following trump's series of announcements and his stated intention on imposing tariffs on the eu. that's it for the moment. i'll be back with more in about an hour's time. >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> welcome back to state of the nation. the united kingdom is at a fork in the road. could we continue with the status quo of low growth, high taxation, and managed decline or change path

to the broad, sunlit uplands and new era of prosperity, higher living standards and western dominance, and the cause of this fork in the road donald trump's trade war. here was the president yesterday signalling to the uk that it isn't too late. >> well, definitely happened with the european union, i can tell you that, because they've really taken advantage of us. they don't take our cars, they don't take our farm products, they take almost nothing and we take everything from them. european union is really out of line. uk is out of line, but i'm sure that one. i think that one can be worked out. but the european union is. it's an atrocity. >> the european union is an atrocity. trump always says it as it is. tariffs are terrible economics, but in this case, good politics. trump is right when he says there's a huge trade deficit with the eu. the eu puts an average tariff of 10% on cars made in the united states, while the us retaliates with a measly 2.5%.

states, while the us retaliates with a measly 25%. similarly, the eu's average tariff on agricultural goods from the us is 11.3%, compared to the us average of 4.8% in return. but the eu also famously uses non—tariff barriers for us goods that often increase production costs of us exports, including, for example, by banning genetically genetically modified organisms. the car industry has higher tariffs. meat and pharmaceuticals. infamously, the us, the eu rather is terrified, absolutely frightened to death of chlorinated chicken, even though those of you who eat salad horrid stuff, though it is, are quite happy to eat chlorinated salad. in my view, the salads the dangerous thing, not the chlorine. in other words, the eu is an overregulated super bureaucracy protectionist racket which is more than happy to sell goods to the us, but not the other way round. and this is where we come in. we to, owing to our protectionist eu legacy, have a tariff on us cars. but why? as a gesture of goodwill, as trump ramps up the trade war, we

should immediately abolish this tariff. not only would it signal to donald trump that we have every intention of aligning ourselves to the high growth, low tax us economy, but it will make goods cheaper for you, too. this is precisely why tariffs are bad economics, but good politics. donald trump's tariff regime will ultimately make imports more expensive for domestic consumers in america. that lowers their standard of living and effectively makes them poorer. but in the meantime, it increases the us's bargaining power with other countries. the uk is in the perfect position to avoid these tariffs and offer free trade to the us. an avowed brexit dividend but just in time for trump's trade war, the reverend starmer is busy on his charm offensive, although in his case it may be more offensive than charm to the eu as he attempts to reset our relations with the bloc. he has always insisted the question of aligning with the eu or us is not a zero sum game, but it's time for this

chlorinated chicken to jump off the fence, go for growth and improve living standards across the united kingdom. as ever. let me know your views mailmogg@gbnews.com. but now i'm joined by my most formidable panel joined by my most formidable panel, telegraph columnist tim stanley and former labour mp lloyd russell—moyle. tim, your telegraph column this morning was on this very subject. and do you think trump's got something going for him, don't you? >> i do the question at the back of everyone's mind is, is trump using this for revenge? is he using this for revenge? is he using it as a coercive form of foreign policy to get people to change their relationship with america, or does he actually want to reform the us economy, switching it away from reliance upon income taxes towards reliance upon taxes on imports to recreate what is in his mind, the 19th century protectionist paradise? i suspect it's the former. this morning, one of his top economic advisers said in reaction to the threat of canadian tariffs. you've got this all the wrong way round.

this is not a trade war. it's a it's a drug war. and the administration says that the key problem is that the border, both north and south, is too open, that drugs and illegal migrants are flowing into the united states, and they're using the threat of us tariffs to compel other countries to properly police their borders. well, evidence for this is that in the last few hours, mexico became the first country to blink, got on the f