Keir Starmer has been dealt a blow before his talks with Donald Trump even start today. The UK’s business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said there is “more to do” on a UK-US trade deal, as he indicated it may be unlikely there will be a “resolution” to announce after the Prime Minister’s meeting with the US President scheduled for later today.
Mr Reynolds told the BBC that “it’s really important to have the president here”, and the visit offers “a chance to do a bit of business”. He added: “We were very happy to announce the breakthrough that we had a few months ago in relation to sectors like automotive, aerospace, which are really important to the UK economy. But we always said it was job saved, but it wasn’t job done.
“There’s more to do. The negotiations have been going on on a daily basis since then. There’s a few issues to push a little bit further today. We won’t perhaps have anything to announce a resolution of those talks, but there’s some sectors that we still need to resolve, particularly around steel and aluminium, and there’s the wider conversation about what the US calls its reciprocal tariffs.”
Mr Trump is also set to meet the Scottish First Minister John Swinney on third full day of his visit.