Keir Starmer has finally secured an agreement from Donald Trump to implement the trade deal announced by the pair over a month ago. The pair shook hands at their first meeting in Banff, Canada, tonight as the President confirmed he will sign a proclamation for the treaty to get put into action, bringing much-needed relief for Britain’s car and steel industry.
The announcement is a concrete win for Sir Keir Starmer at this summit, during a week in which it is unclear if much else will be agreed between leaders. Downing Street said they had been “working at pace” with US counterparts to get the deal over the line this week, and were optimistic of an announcement ahead of the ‘brush by’ meeting. It came after Sir Keir refused to guarantee it would be signed off this week when travelling out to Canada, despite telling MPs it would come into force by Wednesday.
Speaking in the Commons on June 4, Sir Keir told MPs that the deal will activate “in just a couple of weeks”, and “within a very short time”.
The new trade deal will slash tariffs on British-made cars and steel, in what President Trump branded a “great deal” for both parties.
Announcing the deal in early May, Mr Trump said “This is a really fantastic, historic day”, while Sir Keir branded the agreement “historic”.
The deal sees the UK agree to allow more American exports including beef, ethanol and other agricultural products via a fast tracking customs process.
Meanwhile British will be able to send 100,000 cars into the US annually on a tariff of just 10%, down from the current 25% that threw major British companies like Jaguar Land Rover into a tailspin.
The UK’s steel industry will also be boosted as tariffs are slashed from 25% to 0%. The industry was becoming increasingly anxious about when the deal would come into force after Donald Trump recently signed a new executive order doubling his existing steel tariffs from 25% to a whopping 50%, which Britain will now also avoid.
Both countries will be able to see beef to each other. And the UK will remove the tariff on ethanol coming into the UK from the US, down to zero. But the general US tariff of 10% on most other UK exports will remain.
