Sir Keir Starmer warned that a “trade war was in nobody’s interests” just hours before Donald Trump was due to unveil a wave of tariffs hitting the UK and other countries. At Prime Minister’s Questions, he defended his stance of not threatening retaliatory tariffs, as other countries and the European Union are doing. “We have been preparing for all eventualities ahead of the confirmation of US tariffs later today,” the PM told MPs. “Let me be clear with the House, a trade war is in nobody’s interests and the country deserves and we will take a calm pragmatic approach. “That is why constructive talks are progressing to agree a wider economic prosperity deal with the US.” He stressed that the Government was working with sectors of the UK economy likely to be hit by the tariffs. “Our decisions will always be guided by our national interest..and we will rule nothing out.,” he added. But Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of taking decisions, including the so-called “jobs tax”, that have left the UK economy "fragile just as we face global trade wars". Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged the Prime Minister to set up an economic “Coalition of the Willing” to fight Trump’s tariffs and avoid a trade war. Earlier, the Prime Minister was accused of being “supine” to Donald Trump by not threatening to retaliate against US tariffs being imposed on the UK. Former M&S boss Lord Rose also claimed that the Government was “sitting there with our little begging bowl” and hoping the US president will “be nice” to the UK because of his links to the country. The Government has sought, but failed so far, to negotiate a deal to exempt Britain from the wave of tariffs being announced by Trump on Wednesday evening. Some reports suggest that the US import levies imposed on the UK will be lower than those for the European Union. But Tory peer Lord Rose believes the Government has adopted the wrong tactics. “We have been supine,” he said. “We all have power to change anything. “Sitting there being supine will get us nowhere.” He added: “We should be quite firm, and say ‘listen guys, we believe in free market economics, we have got a situation here where our trade is relatively balanced, we clearly don’t want to be unfairly hit, and if you do hit us I’m afraid we are going to reluctantly retaliate’. “It’s quite sad, in the 21st Century, that we are sitting there with our little begging bowl hoping that Mr Trump because he had a Scottish mother and owns a golf club in Scotland is going to be nice to us.” The US president is expected to unveil sweeping tariffs at an event at the White House around 9pm UK time, in a move he has dubbed “liberation day”. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson saids “discussions are ongoing” between the UK and US aimed at securing an economic deal. But she warned “this is going to be a difficult period”, with the tariffs set to deliver a significant blow to the UK economy, businesses and the public finances, which could lead to tax rises later this year. Economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility have warned that US tariffs could eliminate Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s “headroom” against her debt target, requiring more spending cuts or tax rises to meet the rules she has set herself, as well as knocking up to 1% off the size of the economy. A trade deal with the US could include possible changes to the digital services tax, which imposes a 2% levy on the revenues of several major US tech companies, in exchange for a carve-out from the tariffs.