Washington President (AP), Donald Trump, has agreed to reduce prices on British cars, steel and aluminum in a planned trade agreement with Great Britain, which would buy more American beef and rationalize his customs process for the United States.
The symbolically resonant agreement has not yet been finalized, but he suggested that Trump was still able to negotiate with other countries after his vast set of prices has delighted fears in the world of economic slowdown and higher inflation.
The announcement provided a political victory for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and offered a degree of validation for Trump's claims that his turbulent trade approach could rebalance the global economy in his favorite terms.
The American president discussed the agreement to journalists from the Oval Office, even if the small characters remain evolving.
The latest details are in writing, Trump told journalists. In the coming weeks, all of this is very conclusive.
The president said that the agreement would lead to more exports of beef and ethanol to the United Kingdom, which would also rationalize the treatment of American products through customs. Commerce secretary Howard Lunick said that 10% reference rates would remain in place, while British officials said that Trump automotive prices would drop from 27.5% to 10% on a quota of 100,000 vehicles and that steel and aluminum import taxes would go from 25% to zero.
Starmer, speaking on the phone to Trump, stressed the importance of the relationship between the two countries as the anniversary of The victory of the Second World War in Europe was commemorated.
To be able to announce this big business on the same affair, 80 years old, almost at the same time and as we were 80 years ago with the United Kingdom and the United States side by side, I think it is incredibly important, said Starmer.
The planned agreement was the first described since Trump began his stuttering efforts to reclaim the global economy by Considerably increase import taxes in an attempt to increase national manufacturing. The republican president quickly deployed prices after his return to the White House, targeting traditional allies such as the United Kingdom with import taxes on steel, aluminum and cars. Trump announced nearby universal rates on April 2, Then partially retired A week later and announced that his administration would seek individual agreements with various countries in the coming months.
The United States already manages a trade surplus with the United Kingdom, which facilitates a little more common ground because Trump has marked its prices on the specific elimination of annual trade deficits with several nations which, according to him, have benefited from the United States
No new offer has been concluded with the largest American business partners, including Canada, Mexico and China. Trump left the highest rates in place on China, triggering a confrontation between The two biggest economies in the world. Washington and Beijing send officials to Switzerland this weekend to A first cycle of commercial negotiations.
Trump promised on Thursday that there were “many other offers, who are at serious negotiation stages, to follow!
Starmer, speaking at a defense conference in London, said that discussions with the United States were underway, and you will hear more about it later.
The United States and the United Kingdom have aimed to conclude a bilateral trade agreement since the British people voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, allowing the country to negotiate independently of the rest of the continent. The Minister of the time, Boris Johnson, praised a future agreement with the United States as an incentive to Brexit.
Negotiations began in 2020 during Trumps' first term. But discussions Little progress Under President Joe Biden, Democrat and critic of Brexit. Negotiations have resumed after Trump came into office in January and has intensified in recent weeks.
A major objective of the British negotiators was to reduce or raise the import tax on British cars and steel, which Trump set at 25%. The United States is the largest destination for British cars, representing more than a quarter of British automobile exports in 2024, according to The Office for National Statistics.
Great Britain has also requested pricing exemptions for pharmaceutical products, while the United States wants better access to the British market for agricultural products. Starmers' government said that it would not reduce British food standards to allow American chicken to Chlorine or hormone treated beef.
The British government will see an agreement as a justification for the starmers Trump emollient approachwho avoided confrontation or direct criticism. Unlike the European Union, Great Britain has not announced reprisals On American goods in response to import taxes.
A trade agreement with the United Kingdom would be symbolically important and relief for British exporters. But an agreement would not do much to respond to Trumps' concerns about persistent trade deficits that prompted it to impose import taxes on the countries of the world.
The United States has led a trade surplus of $ 11.9 billion in goods with the United Kingdom last year, the census office said. The $ 68 billion in goods that the United States imported from the United Kingdom last year represented only 2% of all goods imported into the country.
The United States is much larger for the British economy. It was Great Britain's largest trading partner last year, according to government statistics, although most of British exports to the United States is services rather than goods.
Trump previously said that his lever effect in talks would be American consumers, but it seemed to suggest that the United Kingdom would also start buying more American manufacturing.
I think the United Kingdom, like all the other countries, they want … shopping in the United States of America, “he said.
A trade agreement with the United States is one of the many that the Starmers government seeks to conclude. Tuesday, Great Britain and India announced a trade agreement after three years of negotiations. The United Kingdom also tries to raise some of the obstacles to trade with the EU imposed when Great Britain left the block in 2020.
Jill Lawless reported in London. Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
