WASHINGTON/LONDON, May 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UK and US have agreed a “breakthrough” trade deal slashing some of Donald Trump’s tariffs on cars, aluminium and steel and that the prime minister said would save thousands of British jobs.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a breakthrough agreement with Britain, the first such deal since he launched his global tariffs blitz.
“I’m thrilled to announce that we have reached a breakthrough trade deal with the United Kingdom,” Trump told reporters during a White House gathering to announce the pact.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was a “fantastic, historic day” as he announced the agreement, the first by the White House since Trump announced sweeping global tariffs last month.
Starmer, speaking to workers at the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Solihull, said the agreement had saved jobs in the car and steel industries that had been under threat.
The announcement was made in a choreographed phone call between Starmer and Trump, while the press gathered with the leaders on either end of the line.
The US agreed to cut the 25% tariff rate on British steel and aluminium exports to zero. The concession will be seen as a lifeline to the steel industry, for which the US is an important export market and which has been on the verge of collapse.
American tariffs on up to 100,000 British cars will also be reduced to 10%, down from the 27.5% rate Trump initially announced. The US is the main export market for British cars, worth more than £9bn last year.
Washington promised to give “preferential treatment” to the UK’s pharmaceutical industry, which Trump has also threatened with tariffs, although none have been set yet, and American aerospace manufacturers will receive preferential access to high-quality UK aerospace components. A 10% baseline tariff on most goods remains in place.
There was relief, too, that British beef farmers will be allowed access to the US market, joining a small group of countries including Australia, while US farmers will be granted new access to the UK.
Starmer said there would be no watering down of food standards with this measure, with imports of hormone-treated beef or chlorinated chicken remaining illegal.
“I know people along the way were urging me to walk away, to descend in a different kind of relationship. We didn’t,” the prime minister said. “We did the hard yards. We stayed in the room. I’m really pleased to say to the workforce here and through them to the country, how important I think this deal is.”
But he added it was “jobs won, not jobs done” and the UK would keep negotiating in areas including tech, where ministers want to improve cooperation with the US, and the film industry, which Trump has also threatened with tariffs.
Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to the US, said a “technology partnership” would be negotiated “over the coming months”. JD Vance, the US vice-president, is expected to play a key role.
Starmer said he had “not at all” been bounced into the deal but “didn’t know the exact day” it would be completed. “I wouldn’t be having my phone call with President Trump halfway through the second half of the Arsenal v PSG game had I planned it better. That’s the way it turned out and that’s the discussion we were having late last night about how we proceeded with this deal,” he said.
UK government officials said the deal was a starting point from which the two sides would keep negotiating. Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, told reporters that the UK would continue trying to reduce the 10% baseline tariff. He said the agreement did not include any concessions on the digital services tax, online safety laws, or the NHS.
Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, told reporters later that negotiations about digital services tax were continuing. “The digital tax has spread like a bad virus around the world … and it basically targets American companies,” he said.
The UK is the first country to strike an agreement with Trump since his announcement of global tariffs on what he called “liberation day”. That sent global stock markets plunging for days until Trump brought in a 90-day pause, which will expire in July.
The US has been under pressure to strike tariff agreements to shore up its economy. For months, as economists warned Trump’s trade strategy risked triggering a recession, the president and his closest officials insisted it would set the stage for the White House to hammer out dozens of trade deals.
US officials are in talks with other leading economies, including India and Japan, but agreements have yet to materialise. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said this week that talks were under way with 17 countries.
The US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, told reporters she hoped to expand the agreement to include all meats and that she would be visiting the UK next week to make this point, adding: “There is no industry that has been treated more unfairly than our agriculture industry.” — NNN-AGENCIES
