We can do without the goods on which Trump has imposed tariffs

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The president’s decision could have serious consequences for consumers (Getty)

So, President Donald Trump wants a trade war and starts by slapping tariffs on steel and aluminium. The EU responds by threatening to put higher taxes on motorcycles and bourbon whiskey. Big deal. The quoted list, which The Independent has published, of goods that we import from the US which may increase in price as a result, is stuff we can easily manage without or source from elsewhere. If this is the best that US manufacturing can do, no wonder they need protection.

Bernard Cudd
Address supplied

Early learning schemes were an essential part of our children’s upbringing

Successive governments have served our children badly, especially, by closing early development centres.

Sure Start centres were/are a wonderful way of exciting children to learn both social graces and practical life skills, as the author of one of your articles, Shappi Khorsandi, so eloquently explains. Additionally, other benefits are accrued when parents, mainly women, come together to give their children a meaningful and measurable start in life.

Many beneficial elements in modern life have been slowly eroded – nursery school places, libraries, youth clubs, pre-school and after school clubs, etc. These facilities were the backbone of a society that cared for and about, the evolution of our future generations.

Shappi Khorsandi’s article vividly highlights the misconception governments have laboured under for years. Socialised five year olds generally find school less of a trauma and learn faster than children who have had no pre-school experience. The benefits for parents are also welcomed, worthwhile and even uplifting. To watch your child gain confidence in groups of other children, becoming a small cog in the social structure and above all enjoying a stress free learning environment, is a wonderful watch.

Yes, the early learning schemes, such as Sure Start, are an essential part of our children’s upbringing and it’s a crime that successive governments have withdrawn support for these worthwhile centres for pre-school education.

Keith Pool
Basingstoke

Take a stand against all forms of intolerance

Islamophobia, like antisemitism, is the first symptom of a disease that is tearing apart the moral fabric of British and European societies. It is disheartening that Islam has become synonymous with gender inequality, religious ghettoisation, honour killings, child marriage, polygamy, enslavement and backwardness.

The menacing affliction of Islamophobia is being used to distract attention from the failures of the Conservative Party to tackle food and job insecurity, unemployment, discrimination, food banks and poverty, all of which have become rampant and are likely to grow in the aftermath of Brexit. It is imperative that we stand up to intolerance when and where it rears its grotesque head.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London NW2

We mustn’t allow Trump to bully us

You are entirely mistaken if you think playing along with Trump’s bully tactics will produce a positive result for world trade. If you give a bully what they demand they do not suddenly become reasonable people open to discussion. What they learn, especially Trump, is that bullying works. It might sometimes work for him, but it invariably leaves people busted or impoverished. As with kidnappers and terrorists, giving in to their demands simply encourages more kidnapping and more terrorism.

The rest of the trading word has only one option. Don’t buckle. Put punitive tariffs on American produce and products. The world can make its own aircraft, cars, drugs, food, films and TV. No halfway measures. No token tariffs. It will be painful, but nothing like as painful as letting a bully have his way.

Steve Lane
Address supplied

The EU hasn’t passed a law to ban importing cheap labour

Contrary to your letters headline and Patrick Cosgrove’s assertion, the European Union has not passed a law prohibiting the import of cheap labour. The European Parliament – which is very different – has voted for such a measure. On its own it doesn’t have the power to enforce this.

After such a vote, legislation then has to be approved by the European Council – as the EU describes it “the council is not legally obliged to take account of parliament’s opinion but in line with the case-law of the Court of Justice, it must not take a decision without having received it”. If the EU had actually been structured entirely on democratic representation and votes, rather than commissioners easily susceptible to corporate lobbying, it might have been a bit more popular with referendum voters.

Gavin Lewis
Manchester

The benefits of cutting out meat and dairy aren’t just environmental

In response to Harriet Minter’s article, I would like to add that the more meat or dairy one consumes the greater the likelihood of getting heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and various forms of cancer. The other existential threat facing us is the increasing failure of antibiotics to work. Animals reared for meat are fed a huge amount of antibiotics and by consuming the meat human beings are ingesting them, making our bodies immune.

The failure of antibiotics would spell a disaster as diseases that have been neutralised over the last hundred years will come back to haunt us. The massive use of pesticides is polluting our waterways and destroying the fragile ecosystems. The unrelenting abuse of factory-farmed animals is also something we as a species need to look into. The time has come to radically change human/animal relationship from one of exploitation to one based on respect and compassion. With the unprecedented surge in the number of people going vegetarian and vegan the stage is set for a new deal for animals.

Nitin Mehta
Croydon CR0