Speaking at a tech summit in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Vance said that Western nations, including the UK and Canada, have become too dependent on “cheap labor” rather than focusing on productivity growth: “I’d say that if you look in nearly every country, from Canada to the UK, that imported large amounts of cheap labor, you’ve seen productivity stagnate,” he said. “That’s not a total happenstance. I think that the connection is very direct.”
The event, hosted by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, provided a platform for Vance to discuss broader economic policies, including his defense of President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs, reports Daily Mail. He called tariffs as a “necessary tool to protect our jobs and our industries from other countries.” Vance has a background in that sector.
Trump has recently imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, with some delays until April 2. He has also hinted that he would be implementing tariffs as high as 200 percent on European wine and spirits. The UK has already been affected by U.S. trade policies, with Trump enforcing 25 percent tariffs on iron and steel imports—a move that could further strain Britain’s fragile economy.
Vance insisted that these measures, combined with technological advancements, would help restore America’s manufacturing strength. “When you erect a tariff wall around a critical industry like auto manufacturing and you combine that with advanced robotics and lower energy costs and other tools that increase the productivity of US labour, you give American workers a multiplying effect,” he said. “That, in turn, allows firms to make things here at a price-competitive basis.”
His remarks are likely to add to tensions between the US and Britain. Vance has emerged as a vocal critic of the UK since taking officce in January.
At the Munich Security Conference in February, he accused Britain and its allies of restricting free speech, pointing to the case of Adam Smith-Connor, who was arrested and convicted in 2022 for silently praying outside an abortion clinic. Smith-Connor later told The Telegraph that he was “delighted” Vance was “exposing the reality” of censorship in Britain.
Earlier this month, Vance faced backlash after minimizing Britain’s military role, saying it was a “random country” that had not “fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”
