Memo: Budgets and Tariffs

Hi ZipLawyer! Today’s Memo:

📉 Budget time
🥉 Copper Tariff Mayhem
🛡️ EU Steel Shields Up
🍗 Baker McKenzie’s Chicken Deal
💰 A&O Shearman, Willkie lead £10B deal
🙋 What is a Pension Fund?

Budget Time

UK inflation unexpectedly dipped to 2.8% in February, offering a rare glimmer of good news for Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of today's Spring Statement—where she’s expected to slash £10 billion from public spending to stick to her self-imposed rule that day-to-day spending must be covered by tax, not borrowing.

Here's what to expect:

• £10bn in total cuts to day-to-day government spending
• £500m more from welfare benefits, on top of earlier planned reductions
• 10,000 civil service jobs to go (15% cut in operating costs)
• Departmental budgets trimmed, especially in non-protected areas like transport and local government
• £2.2bn boost to defence spending (shifted from foreign aid budget)

More Tariffs?!

The US is set to slap a 25% tariff on copper imports within weeks—far earlier than expected—sending copper prices soaring to record highs in New York. President Trump launched an investigation in February, but insiders say the review is little more than a formality, with the White House pushing for swift action. The looming tariffs have created a global copper scramble, as traders rush to ship metal to the US before duties kick in. The sudden move could disrupt global supply and squeeze top copper consumer China.

Counter-Measures

The EU has tightened limits on tariff-free steel imports, aiming to shield its domestic industry from a surge in global supply, particularly from China. First introduced in 2019 as a response to Trump’s 25% US steel tariffs, the measures were designed to prevent a flood of redirected exports hitting Europe.

Why is this happening? When one major market (like the US) slaps tariffs on steel, exporters (e.g. Chinese steel exporters) look for other places to sell their excess supply. That excess then floods into untariffed markets like the EU, where there are fewer barriers. This creates a surge in imports, undercutting local producers with cheaper steel and putting the EU steel industry at risk. The EU’s safeguard measures aim to stop that by limiting how much foreign steel can enter tariff-free.

Baker McKenzie leads on meaty deal