{"id":494,"date":"2026-05-04T13:02:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/?p=494"},"modified":"2026-05-04T13:02:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:02:40","slug":"academics-warn-of-health-risks-associated-with-trumps-trade-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/2026\/05\/04\/academics-warn-of-health-risks-associated-with-trumps-trade-tariffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Academics warn\u00a0of health\u00a0risks associated with Trump\u2019s trade tariffs\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image source: Roberto Sorin, UnSplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

University of Cambridge academic Dr Benjamin Hawkins<\/a> has warned against the possible health risks associated with Trump\u2019s trade tariffs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his work<\/a> with Dr Courtney McNamara of Newcastle University, Hawkins reported that the tariffs could lead to more expensive products, which could in turn affect people\u2019s health, not only in the US but the rest of the world also.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst new developments have been made\u00a0in the\u00a0US-UK\u00a0pharmaceutical partnership<\/a>, which sees the UK have a 0% tariff on pharmaceutical exports to the\u00a0US, Hawkins warned of\u00a0other factors which could still affect health in the UK and US.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased prices can make food more expensive, reducing consumers\u2019 access to the products, as well as impacting the quality of food the consumer is able to buy. The trade tariffs can also cause general economic anxieties which can have negative impacts on consumer\u2019s mental health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawkins said that it is currently \u201creally hard to tell\u201d what the exact health implications of the tariffs could be because of the tariff\u2019s unpredictable nature.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their unpredictability thus far and looking into the future means that it is very difficult to identify the \u201cspecific effects of individual tariffs on different commodity classes or different products.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there isn\u2019t an exact figure on how much more expensive food alone will be, The Budget Lab<\/a> is predicting an increase of 0.6% in consumer prices in the US in the short run, which equates to about $800 per household.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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Data source: Visual Capitalist<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just the US that is affected, however.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawkins said that tariffs are reciprocal, with countries that have tariffs imposed on them often responding in kind, as the EU have done with alcohol imports, for example.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other economics academics have made similar warnings.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Allen, lecturer at the University of Salford, said that when tariffs are applied globally, and reciprocal tariffs are applied in turn, they can cause increases in prices around the world.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the reciprocal nature of tariffs, Allen warned that \u201cthe general cost of living is just going to keep rising\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could include the\u00a0price of food, meaning UK consumers could also see an increase in their grocery bills like the US.\u00a0This comes after a\u00a03.6%<\/a>\u00a0rise in the price of food and non-alcoholic\u00a0beverages from January 2025 to\u00a02026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Data source: Trading Economics<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hawkins said that when prices increase globally, trade decreases which then negatively affects a country\u2019s economy. This can then negatively affect consumer health, both in an inability to afford certain products and anxieties surrounding finances.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawkins argued that \u201ctrade has enormous implications for health\u201d, so much so that \u201chealth policy is trade policy and trade policy is health policy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argues that governments should take a much more holistic approach to trade policy, considering not just the economic impacts of policy but the health impacts also.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward however, both Hawkins and Allen did not appear hopeful.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen said that the tariffs are \u201cjust going to go backwards and forwards in my view\u201d, while Hawkins said that \u201cit\u2019s incredibly difficult for health actors to get a hearing\u201d, and in these negotiations where \u201cthe ground is constantly moving\u201d it is difficult to get involved in the conversation.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Cambridge academic Dr Benjamin Hawkins has warned against the possible health risks associated with Trump\u2019s trade tariffs.  After his work with Dr Courtney McNamara of Newcastle University, Hawkins reported that the tariffs could lead to more expensive products, which could in turn affect people\u2019s health, not only in the US but the rest of the world also.   Whilst new developments have been made\u00a0in the\u00a0US-UK\u00a0pharmaceutical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":385,"featured_media":502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":48,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/385"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/katy-woods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}