By Sama Marwan,
The British newspaper The Guardian revealed that UK officials are tightening security measures when handling sensitive trade documents to prevent them from falling into the hands of the United States amid the tariff war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
In light of the tensions affecting the so-called “special relationship”, British civil servants have revised document handling guidelines, assigning higher classification levels to some trade negotiation documents in order to better shield them from American scrutiny, according to sources.
The White House has shaken up global financial markets and disrupted key relationships by imposing sudden and unpredictable tariffs on trading partners, including China, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.
Sources said that officials were informed that the change in protocols is directly linked to tensions over major trade and foreign policy issues between Washington and London.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has prioritized securing a trade deal with Washington, choosing not to respond to Trump’s decision to impose 10% tariffs on goods exported to the U.S., and 25% on British car and steel exports. Instead, Starmer has offered concessions in areas such as digital taxation and agriculture.
Prior to Trump’s inauguration, British trade documents related to talks with the U.S. were generally classified as “Official – Sensitive (UK only),” according to examples seen by The Guardian. Officials were permitted to share these via internal email networks. This classification continued while UK officials negotiated with the Biden administration, even after the White House ruled out a comprehensive trade deal.
Now, however, a significantly larger proportion of documents and communications outlining negotiation stances—discussed by officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Office, and the Department for Business and Trade—come with additional handling instructions to avoid U.S. interception, with some classified as “Secret” or even “Top Secret“, according to sources. These classifications also include different guidelines on digital sharing to prevent interception.
