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UK must seek to ‘rebuild’ trade relationship with EU, says Bank governor

09 May 2025 2 minute read
The Bank of England. Photo Yui Mok/PA Wire

The Governor of the Bank of England has said he hopes the UK can “rebuild” trade relationships with the EU after striking a trade deal with the US.

Andrew Bailey said it would be “beneficial” to reverse the post-Brexit reduction in UK-EU trade.

In an interview with the BBC, the Bank’s chief suggested that the UK-US trade deal secured on Thursday could set an example to nations around the world.

He said: “It is important we do everything we can to ensure that whatever decisions are taken on the Brexit front do not damage the long-term trade position.

“So I hope that we can use this to start to rebuild that relationship.”

Deal

It came after President Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer confirmed a trade deal that would eliminate a number of planned tariffs between the nations.

As part of the agreement, US import taxes which had threatened to cripple British high-end carmakers were cut from 27.5% to 10%, while the 25% tariff on steel has also been removed entirely.

Meanwhile, the deal will also give America’s agricultural industry greater access to British markets.

“It demonstrates that trade deals are important,” Mr Bailey said.

“Trade deals can be done, and the trade is important… honestly, it seems an unpromising landscape at times,” he said.

“I hope that we can use these deals to rebuild the world trading system.”

Talks

The Government is currently in talks with the EU regarding its trade and security relationship, ahead of a summit later in May.

It comes after the Bank of England had warned earlier on Thursday that original US tariff plans on the UK would have knocked 0.3 percentage points off UK economic growth over the next three years.

The Bank also warned that the global economy was set to grow at a slower pace than previously expected due to heightened global trade tensions.

Meanwhile, the central bank reduced interest rates to a two-year low of 4.25% in the UK after a recent slowdown in inflation.


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Martyn Vaughan
12 days ago

Brexit was raving madness fuelled by lies and ignorance. At the very least we should rejoin the Customs Union.

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
12 days ago
Reply to  Martyn Vaughan

At the very least.

Hal
Hal
12 days ago

It’s getting more difficult to find anyone who admits to voting for the self-sanctioning. Even the Brexit Party realised the problem wasn’t Europe after all but the UK hence they became Reform UK. Time for another vote?

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
12 days ago
Reply to  Hal

Yes.

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
12 days ago

Well well! Here we have the Governor of the Bank of England, (Andrew ‘half a million pounds a year, don’t you dare ask for a pay rise, I’m going to raise interest rates to compound problems for the worst off’ Bailey), in the week when his predecessor Mark Carney stands up to Trump,(coincidence?) cutting interest rates and finally talking some sense and acknowledging that we must recalibrate our relationship with the EU. Big wheel, turns slowly but we got there.

Bert
Bert
11 days ago

Abolish.

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