Johnson hints at cutting food tariffs to help reduce costs

Boris Johnson took aim at his own government’s tariffs on imports of food that is not produced domestically, saying their removal could ease the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. But even his officials say otherwise.

“Why do we have a tariff of 93 pence a kilo on Turkish olive oil?” Johnson said at a speech in Blackpool, northern England, days after surviving a confidence vote in his ruling Conservative Party. “Why do we have a tariff on bananas?”

Britain’s existing tariff on Turkish olive oil is a feature of the UK-Turkey free trade agreement signed by Johnson in December 2020, a roll-over deal from when Britain left the European Union. The UK has since said it wants to renegotiate the agreement to expand its scope.

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Yet Johnson’s own government has said cutting tariffs on food imports would have minimal impact on household finances. It’s a “tiny, tiny proportion, 0.4% on the cost of living,” Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in April.

In his speech Thursday, Johnson said he wants to strike a balance between protecting local farmers from cut-price and substandard food made overseas, while also helping consumers.