Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 23, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 2, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleBoE MPC member Alan Taylor says elevated U.S. tariffs are likely to stay and their full impact will take years. He sees possible China trade diversion to East Asia and the EU and backed a UK rate cut on below‑target inflation risks.
LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - High U.S. import tariffs appear to be here to stay and their full impact is likely to take "many years" to be felt, Bank of England policymaker Alan Taylor said on Monday.
After the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday voided most of the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed last year, Trump used a different statute to impose first a 10%, then a 15% global levy that can last for five months while his administration searches for more durable workarounds.
"I think the fundamental thing to realise is those tariffs are here to stay at some kind of number that is a lot – an order of magnitude - bigger than it was two years ago," Taylor said at an event organised by Deutsche Bank.
"So I think we should expect this shock to play out also over many years," he added.
Taylor said there were some signs that China was diverting exports to elsewhere in East Asia and the European Union, with potential deflationary consequences, but that it was hard to know how significant the impact would be.
Taylor was part of a four-strong minority on the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee who sought to cut benchmark interest rates to 3.5% from 3.75% earlier this month, partly because he saw a risk that inflation could in future persistently undershoot its 2% target.
(Reporting by William Schomberg; writing by David Milliken; Editing by Kate Holton)
Bank of England MPC member Alan Taylor argues that elevated U.S. import tariffs are likely to remain and that their full economic impact will take many years to unfold.
On Feb 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court voided most of last year’s tariffs. The administration then imposed a temporary global levy—first 10%, later 15%—under a different statute.
Taylor sees signs of China diverting exports toward East Asia and the EU, which may prove deflationary. However, he cautions that the magnitude and duration are uncertain.
He joined a minority on the BoE’s MPC seeking to cut the Bank Rate to 3.5% from 3.75%, citing the risk that inflation could undershoot the 2% target in the future.
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