Starmer and Trump hail ‘historic day’ as UK and US agree trade deal

The conclusion of a US-UK trade agreement is a “fantastic, historic day”, Sir Keir Starmer has said as he and Donald Trump formally announced the deal.

Speaking to Sir Keir from the White House, the US President said the agreement was a “great deal for both countries”.

Mr Trump said the “final details” of the agreement were still being “written up”, adding: “The actual deal is a very conclusive one we think, just about everything has been approved.”

Tariffs

The Government has been pursuing a deal with the US to reduce the impact of sweeping tariffs imposed by Mr Trump last month, which placed a 10% levy on all UK exports and a 25% charge on steel, aluminium and cars.

Previous governments have also attempted to secure a free trade agreement with the US, but with no success.

Mr Trump said: “The US and UK have been working for years to try and make a deal and it never quite got there.

“It did with this Prime Minister, so I want to just congratulate you.”

Sir Keir said: “With this President and this Prime Minister we’ve managed to achieve what many people tried to achieve for many years, and I’m really pleased.”

The US president had previously described the deal as “full and comprehensive”, but Thursday’s announcement focused on a narrower set of industries.

Under the deal, American tariffs on British cars fall to 10% for the first 100,000 vehicles exported to the US, while tariffs on steel are scrapped.

Jobs

Steel union Community’s assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said the deal would protect jobs in the industry.

He said: “The UK Government deserves enormous credit for negotiating this deal to reduce US tariffs which would have had a hugely damaging impact on our steel sector.”

In exchange, the UK has reduced tariffs on US products including beef and ethanol, which US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said would create 5 billion dollars in “opportunity for American exports”.

The agreement on beef provides a tariff-free quota for 13,000 tonnes of US exports, but the UK Government said this would involve no reduction in food standards.

Mr Lutnick added that British-made Rolls Royce engines would be excluded from tariffs, with a UK airline agreeing to buy “10 billion worth of Boeing planes later today”.

Mr Trump said the UK would also be brought into “economic security alignment” with the US as a result of the deal.

Number 10 said work would continue on pharmaceuticals and remaining tariffs, but the US had promised to give the UK preferential treatment if any further tariffs were imposed.

Lord Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador in Washington, said the deal was “not the end, it’s just the end of the beginning”.

Trade barriers

Speaking in the Oval Office, he said: “There is yet more we can do in reducing tariffs and trade barriers so as to open up our markets to each other, even more than we are agreeing to do today.”

Previous speculation had suggested the UK would revise the digital services tax as part of a deal, with the levy mainly applying to US tech companies.

But Number 10 said on Thursday the tax would remain unchanged, with the two countries agreeing to work on a separate digital trade deal that would reduce paperwork for British firms exporting to the US.

Ministers are expected to update MPs on the talks with the US with a statement in the Commons later.

The deal with the UK is the first agreement since Mr Trump announced the “liberation day” tariffs on countries around the world.

‘Shafted’

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the deal, saying Britain had been “shafted”.

She said: “When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. We cut our tariffs – America tripled theirs.”

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats demanded a vote on the deal in Parliament, saying it would show “complete disrespect to the public” if MPs were denied a say.

Sir Ed Davey said: “When it comes to any trade deal – and especially one with someone as unreliable as Donald Trump – the devil will be in the detail.

“One thing is clear, Trump’s trade tariffs are still hitting key British industries, threatening the livelihoods of people across the UK.”