[CTC] The Trump administration is planning to announce a trade deal with Britain.

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/business/economy/trump-trade-britain.html?smid=url-share

The Trump administration is planning to announce a trade deal with Britain.
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05/08/us/trump-uk-trade-news#trump-trade-britain>

President Trump is expected to announce on Thursday that the United States
will strike a “comprehensive” trade agreement with Britain.

Mr. Trump teased a new trade agreement in a social media post on Wednesday
night, though he did not specify which nation was part of the deal. On
Thursday, a senior British official confirmed that a deal with the United
States had been reached.

And on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump was back on social media
<https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114471661029075259> to
confirm that it was, in fact, a deal with the U.K.

“The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that
will cement the relationship between the United States and the United
Kingdom for many years to come,” he wrote. “Because of our long time
history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United
Kingdom as our FIRST announcement. Many other deals, which are in serious
stages of negotiation, to follow!”

Mr. Trump is expected to announce the deal at 10 a.m. from the Oval Office.

The British official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of the issue, did not offer details, beyond saying that the
deal would be good for both Britain and the United States.

The agreement would be the first deal announced since Mr. Trump imposed
stiff tariffs on dozens of America’s trading partners. He later paused
those temporarily in order to allow other nations to reach agreements with
the United States.

A deal between the United States and Britain could be a significant win for
both countries, which have long sought closer economic cooperation.

Details of the agreement were not immediately clear. Both nations have
discussed lowering British tariffs on U.S. cars and farm goods, as well as
removing British taxes on U.S. technology companies. It also was not clear
whether the agreement had actually been finalized.

Timothy C. Brightbill, an international trade attorney at Wiley Rein, said
the announcement would probably be “just an agreement to start the
negotiations, identifying a framework of issues to be discussed in the
coming months.”

“We suspect that tariff rates, nontariff barriers and digital trade are all
on the list — and there are difficult issues to address on all of these,”
he added.

The Trump administration has been trying to cajole other countries into
reaching quick trade deals with the United States. The president imposed
punishing tariffs on dozens of its trading partners on April 2, but quickly
backtracked after panic ensued in the bond market. Mr. Trump paused most of
those tariffs for 90 days so that the United States could negotiate trade
deals with other nations.

But he has left a 10 percent global tariff in place, including on Britain.
Unlike other countries, Britain was not subjected to higher “reciprocal”
tariffs, because it buys more from the United States than it sells to it.

Britain is also subject to a 25 percent tariff that Mr. Trump has placed on
foreign steel, aluminum and automobiles, levies that British officials have
been pushing their U.S. counterparts to lift.

Mr. Trump’s interest in striking a trade deal with Britain dates back to
his first term, when his advisers negotiated with the country but didn’t
finalize an agreement. British officials have also been eyeing a trade
agreement with the United States since Brexit, as a way to offset weaker
relations with Europe. In the Biden administration, British officials
continued to push for a deal with the United States but made little
progress.

For Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, the trade deal would offer
vindication for his assiduous cultivation of Mr. Trump. During his visit to
the Oval Office in February, Mr. Starmer turned up with an invitation from
King Charles III
<https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/world/europe/trump-starmer-king-charles.html>
 for the president to make a rare second state visit to Britain.

The Trump administration appears to be nearing deals with India and Israel,
and is continuing to negotiate with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other
nations. Still, Mr. Trump once again displayed his unpredictable approach
to economic policy on Tuesday when he downplayed the prospect of trade deals
<https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/us/politics/trump-deals-tariffs.html>,
saying other countries needed such agreements more than the United States.

“Everyone says ‘When, when, when are you going to sign deals?’” Mr. Trump
said, at one point motioning toward Howard Lutnick, his commerce secretary.
“We don’t have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now, Howard, if
we wanted to. We don’t have to sign deals. They have to sign deals with us.”

Trade experts have said that Mr. Trump may be intending to announce far
more limited deals than traditional trade agreements, which cover most
trade between countries and require congressional approval. Historically,
free-trade agreements have taken the United States more than a year to
negotiate.

In his first term, Mr. Trump renegotiated several U.S. trade agreements,
including a free-trade agreement with South Korea and NAFTA. But he also
signed a series of more limited “mini-deals” with countries in which they
reduced tariffs on a few kinds of goods or agreed to talk about a few
sectors.

British officials have also been negotiating with the European Union, and
on Tuesday agreed
<https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/business/uk-india-trade-deal-tariffs.html>
 to a trade deal with India. The India deal would lower tariffs between the
countries and secure more access for British firms to India’s insurance and
banking sectors, among other changes. The announcement followed nearly
three years of negotiations.
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