The United Kingdom has reached the first agreement with the United States since President Donald Trump turned on a commercial war, winning cuts to punitive tariffs in car and steel exports, but not reverse a 10 percent flat tax that applies to most goods.
The pact was presented on Thursday by the president of the United States at the Oval Office, and the United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, joined by phone. Both leaders effusively praised the strength of the relationship between their countries.
But the scope of the agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom is limited, many of the details must be ironed and the final result still leaves Britain facing a harder commercial relationship with the United States than before Trump introduced radical global tariffs last month.
US actions increased after the announcement, with investors encouraged by the perspective of other agreements, even with China, to limit the damage of the taxes that have drowned trade. The S&P 500 rose more than 1 percent, at its highest intradication from March 27, before giving ground and ending the day 0.6 percent higher.
The actions in much of Asia rose on Friday morning. The wide Topix of Japan rose 1.3 percent, while Taiwan’s reference index increased 1.7 percent. The Chinese markets were flat. The US dollar was stable on Friday in front of a basket or a half -box business partners.
The United States Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, and senior Chinese officials are scheduled to meet in Switzerland this weekend to try to reduce tariff war between the two largest economies in the world.
“I will tell you that China does many chickens to make a deal. We’ll see how that works,” Trump said. When asked if it would be a praise of the United States tariffs for Chinese imports, the president of the United States replied: “At this time, you cannot increase more. It is at 145 [per cent]Then we know he is going down. “
The United States-Rio-Refund, described by Trump as “complete and integral”, will maintain in its place the 10 percent American taxes on most British exports that Trump imposed last month.
According to the text of the agreement published later on Thursday, the two parties were established in continuous reductions of negotiation rates in “important sectors.”
But crucially sacrifices the United Kingdom a postponement of 25 percent additional tariffs in cars and metals that had a leg previously established by the Trump administration and were of particular tension for Great Britain.
British steel and aluminum exports would now have a zero rating for tariffs, according to the United Kingdom government, while the first 100,000 British cars sold in the United States annually, the vast majority of the total would be subject to a reduced tax of 10 percent.
“This historical agreement offers British business and British workers, protecting thousands of British jobs in key sectors, including car manufacturing and steel,” said Starmer.
In return, the United Kingdom will offer American farmers and farmers a better access to the market through a low rate quota system, but without altering its food standards, racing the way for some import meat imports. The United Kingdom will eliminate its tariff by up to 1.4 billion liters or Ethanol from the US.
“Our biggest concern is that …
Trump and Starmer teams also agreed to work in a digital trade pact to deepen cooperation and address US groups about digital services in the United Kingdom that go to Big Tech, which remains in place for now.
Both parties agreed to negotiate more on pharmaceutical goods, that US officials have said that tariffs would have requested in a matter or week.
“The United States and the United Kingdom have legs working for years to try to make a deal, and never came there. He did it with this prime minister,” Trump said in the White House, flanked by JD Vance, the vice president, Howard Peter Mandelson and Uscassorce Secretary Washington.
Going to workers in the Jaguar Land Rover factory in West Midlands, Starmer said the agreement was the beginning of a process. “This is saved jobs, not work done,” he said. “We will continue to build on this agreement.”
He said he had also negotiated “preferential treatment” for the United Kingdom if Trump decides in the future to raise tariffs on pharmaceutical products or other sectors, including films.
But Andrew Griffith, spokesman for conservative trade, said the agreement was disappointing, qualifying it as “a coca agreement -dietary, not real.” Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “We have just been consulted.”
The United States agreement with the United Kingdom could provide a template for US negotiations with other countries, with India, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea seen as the closest to the agreements with Washington.
But Trump warned that the United States would insist that general taxes in countries with large commercial surpluses with the United States could remain well around 10 percent. “Some will be much higher,” he said. “The 10 template is likely the lowest,” he added.
The agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom also raised questions among legal and commercial experts about Wheter, was in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization that require tariffs to apply equally.
Ignacio García Bercero, a former leading official of the European Commission now in Bruegel’s group of experts, said the United Kingdom’s decision to reduce tariffs for US exporters without extending the same agreement to find risky legal challenges.
According to the concept of “more favored nation” of the WTO, countries must sacrifice the same tariffs to all countries, unless they are reduced through a bilateral commercial agreement that covers “a substantial trade of all”, which the pact of the United Kingdom announced the ROES.
“It is worrying if the United Kingdom has offered concessions of preferential rates to the US.
But a commercial lawyer, who refused to be appointed, said that the WTO rules allow trade agreements to be gradually. “They could say that it is the beginning of the negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement and then it takes 10 to 15 years to ‘conclude’,” they said.
Additional Kate Duguid reports in New York and Arjun Neil Alim in Hong Kong
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