the tariffs<\/a> could badly hit this figure.<\/p>\nBefore the US President revealed the new import taxes, to be placed on trading partners worldwide, Mr Barber had been expecting duties of 20 per cent plus on his Cheddar and had factored in a reduction in sales of \u201canything from 50 per cent upwards\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cClearly, 10 per cent is potentially not as bad as it might have been, so there is some sense of relief from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cNevertheless, it\u2019s a very significant extra cost that cannot be absorbed within our own supply chain and will inevitably necessitate price increases in the US market.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018American cheese is bland and tasteless\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite the gloom, Mr Barber believes the quality of British cheese compared with that produced across the Atlantic will help the industry avoid the worst impacts of Trump\u2019s trade war.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur product is significantly different from the US cheeses that are available,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re just 15 miles from the village of Cheddar itself; there\u2019s nearly 200 years of history of making cheddar in our business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe friendly bacteria that start the cheese-making process are all indigenous to the Cheddar area here, and they provide a unique flavour to our cheese.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess that\u2019s different from anything you can buy in the US. I\u2019m not suggesting that we\u2019ll be completely immune, but history suggests that the US consumer has remained loyal in the face of higher tariffs to our product.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s largest commercial exporter of cheese to the US is also concerned about the tariffs, but shares Barber\u2019s view that the poor quality of American cheese could help British producers avoid a business meltdown.<\/p>\n
Stephen Jones, co-founder of Somerdale, said: \u201cWe have containers in transit on the ocean that will be arriving in the US this week and, in all likelihood, we will have to pay the tariff when we get there. That cost is going to be passed on to US consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Jones, however, relies on one strength of British cheese that could mitigate the impact, at least in part \u2013 the fantastic taste, compared to American rivals.<\/p>\n
Of the likely cost hit for US Cheddar fans after tariffs kick in, he said: \u201cWhen it comes down to a five or six-ounce piece of cheese, customers will probably swallow that. It won\u2019t help it, but it won\u2019t kill us. You will find a bit of consumption going, but Trump\u2019s argument that Americans will buy American doesn\u2019t really work with cheese.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some nice American cheeses, but most of it\u2019s pretty bland and horrible. People want a decent French brie, a nice Italian cheese and great UK cheese. American cheese is pretty crap. It\u2019s tasteless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m worried as Americans have been great customers\u2019<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s not only the big UK cheese exporters concerned about the President\u2019s impact on their industry.<\/p>\n
Jane Quicke is chief executive of Quicke\u2019s, which farms land in Devon that has been in the family since the 16th century.<\/p>\n
The business exports between \u00a3150,000 and \u00a3300,000 of its traditional clothbound Cheddar to the US each year, but Trump\u2019s tariffs are causing disquiet.<\/p>\n
Ms Quicke said: \u201cI\u2019m a bit worried because it feels like we\u2019re just now getting traction back in the US. It\u2019s not just the tariffs. I worry more generally about the US economy and what\u2019s going on there. They\u2019ve been such great customers for us because they\u2019re curious and willing to try new things.<\/p>\n
![\"Jane](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_246030229.jpg\")
Jane Quicke\u2019s Devon farm could be hit hard by Trump\u2019s tariffs (Photo: Matt Austin\/Quicke\u2019s)<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could talk to Trump, I would say, \u2018You\u2019re just making things way worse for the USA\u2019, and \u2018You\u2019re strengthening ties between Europe and Asia\u2019 as we all look to work more closely with markets other than the US.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the UK butter and cheese production industry employs around 8,000 people, there are fears that US trade levies could hit jobs in the sector.<\/p>\n
Ms Quicke is one of those considering how her business could be affected. On top of national insurance and wage increases, she is not the only one thinking tariffs could lead to fewer staff.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cWe\u2019re not currently playing lay-offs because there\u2019s a natural turnover of staff in our business. That means, as people leave, we would just not hire new people if we could help it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, that is definitely on the horizon for us. We\u2019re really scrutinising whether we really need these additional people.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Lockwood, an executive of the Specialist Cheese Association, and chairman of Neal\u2019s Yard Dairy, is also relieved at the level of tariff placed on the UK, but still foresees a fall in sales.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_246030221.jpg\")
The UK cheese industry exported \u00a375m worth of cheese to the US last year (Photo: Matt Austin\/Quicke\u2019s)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference between 2019, when we faced Trump tariffs back then, is that we saw a 10 per cent rise in importing to the US, and the impact was roughly a 10 per cent fall in sales,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut last time, the tariffs were not blanket across the globe, and this time, we\u2019re in a different position.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cIf we\u2019re at 10 per cent and EU cheeses are at 20 per cent, under normal circumstances, one would think we had a competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
However this may not be the case in 2025: \u201cI think the reality is that as all prices in the US are going to go up, people are going to have less money to spend on, say, imported cheese.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I\u2019m not sure how big an impact [on boosting our competitive advantage] this will actually have this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his first term as president, Trump had slapped tariffs on Europe in 2019, during a row over subsidies to aircraft maker Airbus, which he claimed disadvantaged US rival Boeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve modelled the loss in sales this time round on the previous tariffs,\u201d said Mr Barber. \u201cBack then, the impact was bigger at the beginning, and then demand began to come back.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, if the American consumer is going to be effectively paying this tariff on everything that\u2019s going into the US, not just cheese, it may have a larger impact generally on American consumer\u2019s ability to absorb those price increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we would expect to see a bigger impact than last time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For almost 200 years, Giles Barber\u2019s family have produced world-famous English Cheddar on their farm in the rolling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51,1472,1473,32,786,1474,479,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-2373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cheese","10":"tag-devon","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-food-and-drink","13":"tag-somerset","14":"tag-tariffs","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114277849691191168","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Giles](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_246041798.jpg\")
Giles Barber runs the oldest surviving cheddar producer in the world (Photo: Giles Barber)<\/p>\n