U.S., U.K. shake on catch-all trade deal

The United States struck a wide-ranging trade deal with the United Kingdom, President Donald Trump said Thursday, his first a month after imposing sweeping reciprocal tariffs. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said Britain will open its markets to more American beef, ethanol, agricultural products, chemicals, and machinery. The U.K. also agreed to reduce or eliminate nontariff barriers against American products and fast-track U.S. goods through customs approval, Trump said. American and British negotiators will finalize the details of the deal in the next few weeks, he said. The deal took 45 days to negotiate and will open an estimated $5 billion in opportunities to American exporters, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the news conference.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer briefly joined the conference via speakerphone, expressing enthusiasm for the deal and thanking Trump and his negotiators. Both leaders said it was symbolic that the longtime allies struck the deal on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day.

Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador to the United States, said that Trump made an eleventh-hour call to Starmer demanding more out of the deal, which Starmer was pleased to receive. Mandelson also said the U.K. planned to work on a formal science and technology partnership with the United States in the coming months.

Will Trump’s 10% baseline tariff on U.K. goods stay in place? The tariff is set, Trump said. However, some British exports, like Rolls-Royce car engines and plane parts, won’t fall under the tariff, Lutnick said.

What other details of the deal were given by the White House?

• The U.K. will stop importing goods from several other countries to open more sectors of its market to American products.

• The U.K. will be allowed to send 100,000 cars from smaller automakers including Rolls-Royce into the United States for purchase, at only a 10% tariff rate rather than the standard 25% auto tariff. That exception will not be offered to most countries, Trump said.

• The U.K. will also buy $10 billion worth of Boeing aircraft and increase its steel and shipbuilding capacity.

• U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will spend next week in Britain negotiating market access for American beef, which is currently restricted by differing food standards. Rollins also said British tariffs on American ethanol will drop from 19% to zero.

• The deal is purely economic and didn’t include any requirements for the U.K. to improve its protections for speech or religion.

What did Trump say about upcoming trade talks with China? U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with Chinese envoys in Switzerland this weekend. If the talks go well, Trump said he will likely lower his 145% tariffs on China. American negotiators may also ask China for help in resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, Trump said.