President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled the broad outline of a trade agreement with the United Kingdom.
The deal is the first by the United States with a country whose imports were subject to new tariffs imposed by Trump in early April.
The U.S. has a trade goods surplus with the UK.
Many specifics about the deal were not immediately clear, and nothing was signed during the Oval Office event.
“The final details are being written up,” Trump said. “In the coming weeks we’ll have it all very conclusive.”
He said that the deal includes “billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports,” and that the UK will “reduce or eliminate numerous non-tariff barriers that unfairly discriminated against American products.”
A fact sheet from the White House said that the trade deal will:
- Keep in place a 10% blanket U.S. tariff on UK imports
- Adjust tariffs on UK autos so that the first 100,000 vehicles imported from UK car manufacturers each year are subject to a 10% rate, and any additional vehicles face 25% rates
- Create a “$5 billion opportunity for new exports” for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and producers, including more than $700 million in ethanol exports and $250 million in American beef and other agricultural products
- Commit both countries to working together to enhance industrial and agricultural market access
- Close loopholes and increase U.S. firms’ competitiveness in the UK’s procurement market
- Streamline customs procedures for U.S. exports
- Establish commitments on intellectual property, labor and the environment
- Secure the supply chain of U.S. aerospace manufacturers through preferential access to high-quality UK aerospace components
- Create a secure supply chain for pharmaceutical products
- Require the U.S. to negotiate an “alternative arrangement to the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.” That includes creating a “new trading union for steel and aluminum”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who joined Trump remotely, said, “We’ve built an incredible platform for the future.”
But some experts downplayed the impact of the deal, saying the path taken that the U.S. took with the UK cannot easily be repeated with other nations where America has a large trade deficit.
“It’s a very small win, and it’s limited in scope,” said Josh Lipsky, chair of international economics at the Atlantic Council, on CNBC’s “The Exchange” later Thursday.
While the Oval Office event was ongoing, Trump’s Truth Social account posted a screenshot indicating U.S. tariffs on the UK will stay at 10%.
Asked if that baseline tariff is a template for future trade deals, Trump said, “That’s a low number.”
“They made a good deal,” Trump said of the UK. “Some will be much higher because they have massive trade surpluses.”
The chart also shows that UK duties on U.S. goods will shrink to 5.1% to 1.8%. It was unclear Thursday how those figures were tabulated.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in the Oval that she will travel to the UK next week to continue talks over U.S. beef exports.
Trump earlier said on Truth Social that the agreement is “a full and comprehensive one,” adding, “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!”
But 10 Downing Street suggested that negotiations with the U.S. were ongoing.
“Talks on a deal between our countries have been continuing at pace and the Prime Minister will update later today,” a spokesperson for Starmer said in a statement overnight, after The New York Times first reported on the U.S.-UK announcement.
The statement added that Starmer “will always act in Britain’s national interest,” and called the U.S. “an indispensable ally for both our economic and national security.”
Trump imposed a 10% blanket tariff on the UK in early April, as part of a rollout of what he claimed were “reciprocal” import duties on nearly every country on earth.
The UK is also affected by separate U.S. tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum, and foreign-made cars.
Trump quickly backed off the reciprocal plan amid a market rout and mounting criticism. He announced a 90-day “pause” that set an across-the-board 10% tariff rate for all affected nations except China.
Trump claimed he decided on that pause after dozens of countries reached out to negotiate new trade relationships with the U.S.
