Beyond levelling up: where next to revive lagging regions? With Felicia Fai & Phil Tomlinson, intro to blockbuster ⁦cssjournal⁩ special issue ‘Beyond Levelling up’ ⁦RSABlog⁩ ⁦RSA Europe⁩ ⁦Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Gov⁩ ⁦Housing, Communities & Local Government Committee⁩ tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

Sami Bensassi and Agelos Delis argue that we are leaving the shore of free trade and entering an era of unfettered mercantilism. 👇 With Trump back in the White House, the age of free trade could be coming to an end theconversation.com/with-trump-bac… via The Conversation

‘The Professor doesn’t understand trade’ 😡

“I’ve seen several ‘I bought this before Elon went mad’ stickers on Teslas” said Bailey, who added that he has a sticker on his midnight-grey Tesla Model S expressing the same sentiment with a profane turn of phrase” great piece by ⁦Tobi Raji⁩ washingtonpost.com/business/2025/…

⁦Mark Gough⁩ ⁦ITV News Central⁩ on more cash for EV chargers in the Midlands, at 5m50s. I pop up at the end. His filming is always a work of art. ⁦Bham Business School⁩ ⁦UK in a Changing Europe⁩ ⁦MidlandsConnect⁩ itv.com/watch/news/cat…

⁦Theo Leggett⁩ ⁦BBC News (UK)⁩ goes for a spin in a driverless ⁦Nissan Leaf⁩. I catch a ride too… ⁦Bham Business School⁩ ⁦UK in a Changing Europe⁩ vimeo.com/1065783169/f4c…

😕 'Huge uncertainty for the industry about the rate of speed of take up' 🚘 UKICE's car industry expert Prof David Bailey reveals why demand for electric vehicles has been slow for Talk👇

UK car industry braces for “sizable hit” by new 25 per cent US tariffs - ⁦Auto Express⁩ Tom Jarvis with comments by Prof David Bailey ⁦UK in a Changing Europe⁩ ⁦Bham Business School⁩ autoexpress.co.uk/news/366376/uk…

Trump auto tariffs - a quick thread. As expected - 25% tariffs on all car imports to the US. This will have a big impact on major auto exporters to the US: Europe (including the UK), Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Canada. UK in a Changing Europe

The UK and EU auto industry was already being squeezed by falling sales in China, stagnant demand in Europe, and slow EV take up. It's a perfect storm for the European auto industry. UK auto already has a low volume crisis with plants operating well below capacity.

Cars are the UK's number one goods export to the US, at £8.3bn in the year to the end of Q3 in 2024, out of around £60bn in total UK exports to the US - or about 14% of UK goods exports to the US. Firms like JLR, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin and MINI will be most affected.

The US is the UK's largest auto export market after the EU. There will be a particular impact on the West Midlands region which is the number one exporting region to the US (think JLR & Aston Martin for example) + is also the centre for components going into exported cars.

German brands like Mercedes, BMW and Audi will look to make more cars in the US (all have assembly operations there), which Trump hopes for. They also have Mexican operations, which appear to be caught by the tariffs.

A later White House clarification confirmed that components are also covered by tariffs. This will push up assembly costs in the US given the large amounts of components coming in from Mexico & Canada. US car production will be become more expensive and US car prices will go up.

Tesla’s recent letter to the US govt (unsigned as nobody wanted to be fired) made clear the risks to Tesla from this approach - higher retaliatory tariffs, increased component costs.

Here in the UK, auto firms are operating well below capacity, & in some cases may be pushed below viability levels. The govt’s industrial strategy needs to spell out now how it will help the industry, including immediate short term support to keep plants open. Ben Norman

Prepare for 'carmageddon': Trump's tarriffs are a perfect storm for the UK auto industry - ⁦LBC News⁩ blog ⁦UK in a Changing Europe⁩ ⁦Bham Business School⁩ ⁦Unite the union: join a union⁩ ⁦SMMT⁩ lbc.co.uk/opinion/views/…

ICYMI Last night’s Auto Blogs from the Blackstuff by Prof David Bailey on Trump’s Tariff Tornado for the UK car industry. john-clancy.com/blogsfromthebl…

‘Once again the UK government is at risk of adopting a piecemeal approach, rather than developing a longer-term strategy to tackle the fundamental structural problems afflicting the UK steel industry’ Prof David Bailey & Paul Forrest’s new blog on British Steel ukandeu.ac.uk/the-future-of-…

🚨 News just in - Rachel Reeves has pledged that the government will 'play a big role' in the future of steelmaking Read our blog from Prof David Bailey & Paul Forrest on how the government has kept British Steel going for now but needs a plan for the future👇 ukandeu.ac.uk/the-future-of-…