The Business Secretary has said that he is “absolutely clear” that the UK’s 10% tariff rate as part of the trade deal with the US is “a benefit” of Brexit. Jonathan Reynolds was speaking to Sky News after the EU struck a trade deal with the US that will see European imports subject to a 15% tariff.
Asked whether this was a direct benefit of Brexit, Mr Reynolds said: “All of the trade negotiations that we’ve got use the fact that we are not part of the customs union anymore, I’m absolutely clear of that. I think we can make the best of that.”
Pushed again on whether he would call it a Brexit benefit, Mr Reynolds later added: “I’m absolutely clear, I’ve said in Parliament many time, this is a benefit of being out of the European Union, having our independent trade policy, absolutely no doubt about that.”
There is “more to do” on the UK-US trade deal, the Business Secretary said, as he indicated it may be unlikely there will be a “resolution” to the talks to announce after Sir Keir and Mr Trump meet.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr Reynolds said “it’s really important to have the president here” and the visit offers “a chance to do a bit of business”.
On the UK-US trade relationship, 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.”
Meanwhile Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has said he will press the US President to exempt Scotch whisky from US trade tariffs.
Mr Swinney said the “uniqueness” of whisky made in Scotland justified the exemption from the 10% tariff applied on UK exports into the US.
“Tariffs are very important for the Scottish economy and obviously scotch whisky is a unique product,” he told BBC Breakfast.