Donald Trump could be on the receiving end of Britain’s ‘apex weapon’ after the 47^th President launched a global trade war, an expert has warned.

Dr Martin Farr, a senior lecturer in contemporary British history at Newcastle University, has suggested that the USA could soon find itself on the receiving end of one of the UK’s most influential assets, the Royal Family.

He said that the Firm, as one of the most powerful cards Britain has at its disposal, was a useful card the nation could play following Trump’s controversial decision to engage in economic friendly fire and cause the biggest upending of trading relationships in 100-years.

However, whilst the Royal Family has been useful for the likes of Sir Keir Starmer in recent weeks, Dr Farr has argued that even if they can wet Trump’s royal whistle, it may not be enough to stop the President from hurting the UK in the future.

Dr Farr explained to The i: “The Royal Family are the big guns. They are the apex weapon, the soft power weapon, in UK statecraft.

“It could have a positive impact – but it’s hard to know how much. They could still screw us on trade, even if there is a wonderful state visit and Trump says nice things about the King.”

It was the deployment of King Charles and an invite to a second official state visit that many have credited with helping Britain avoid some of the worst of Trump’s ire; that the fact Britain enjoys a trade surplus rather than trade deficit with the USA.

However, Trump’s decision to plough away with a 10 percent tariff and a 25 percent on all car parts has triggered another wave of anti-Trump feeling in Britain. Not only are there calls for a buyer’s boycott on American goods and services, but calls for retaliatory tariffs, and the cancellation of his second state visit.

The argument for the latter two options is based on the idea posited by commentators that Britain should not role out the red carpet for a country that some argue is now no longer an ally.

Asked whether Trump’s tariffs would impact his impending state visit, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson insisted it wouldn’t. They told LBC: “I wouldn’t draw any any link between the two.

“Obviously, the state visit is a matter for the Palace, as you know. You’ll have seen that the Prime Minister was delighted to extend His Majesty the King’s invitation for a historic state visit during his visit to the White House. But when it comes to these talks, we’ll obviously continue to have these conversation.”

Whilst Labour may be paying cautious lip service to avoid Trump from hurting the UK anymore than it already has, critics such as Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey have been more outspoken.

In Prime Minister’s Questions earlier this week he called for the UK to ally itself with the likes of Europe and Canada who had not behaved so antagonistically in recent weeks. He told Sir Keir: “One of the options must be to work with our European allies, our Commonwealth allies and others. Because if we don’t tackle Trump’s tariffs, we could be saying goodbye to free trade for a generation.”

Sir Ed’s foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller added: “We need to end this trade war as quickly as possible. That means working with our Canadian and European allies in a united front against Trump, including retaliatory tariffs where necessary.”

Whilst Sir Ed may not be able to change Sir Keir’s mind on his approach to Trump, a strategy believed to have saved the UK from the worst of the tariffs, there will continue to be speculation on whether the deployment of the UK’s most famous weapon will be enough.