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Donald Trump is expected to announce a trade agreement with the United Kingdom Thursday in what would make Great Britain the first country to conclude an agreement with the United States since the White House announced scanning prices last month.
British officials expect the agreement to be limited and focused on the automotive and steel industries, those who have struck the most harshness by the Trump trade war. British cars and steel exports to the United States are 25% prices.
The American president declared Wednesday in an article on his Truth social platform that a “big press conference” came “concerning a major trade agreement with representatives of a large country and highly respected”.
People familiar with the plan on both sides of the Atlantic said that the expected announcement concerned a commercial pact with the United Kingdom, which would be an important political boost for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
But the British authorities admit that it will not be far from the type of complete post-Brexit free trade convention targeted by the former conservative government.
The Financial Times reported Tuesday that Washington and London were about to accept a pact that would offer lower price quotas for British cars and steel exports.
British negotiators have also tried to persuade Trump to reduce his global “basic rate” by 10% on the United Kingdom, but conceded that this would not be about to happen.
Trump’s announcement is probably the start of a process of new trade discussions with Great Britain, which also seeks a “technological agreement” to deepen cooperation in AI and other areas.
Great Britain is expected to reduce rights to American imports as part of the agreement, with potential reductions at its 10% rate on car imports as well as samples from meat and crustaceans. There was also a discussion on the reduction of his tax on digital services, which strikes American technological groups.
A Starmer spokesperson said: “The United States is an essential ally for our economic and national security. Translections on an agreement between our countries continued in Pace and the Prime Minister will update later during the day.”
Starmer, who attends VE Day events in Britain on Thursday, does not go to Washington for the announcement, said his allies.
The expected agreement of the United Kingdom is one of the 17 that Trump was aimed at signing with the main American trade partners while the rows of the White House on the world prices announced on April 2.
The American president was under pressure to conclude early agreements to convince investors that he is serious about the defense after his announcement as a “liberation day” of April 2 sparked unrest in the financial markets.
Starmer is also under pressure to conclude an agreement with Washington after the car and steel industries warned against the “devastating” effects of prices.
Vincent Clerc, director general of the second world container expedition group, AP Møller-Maersk, told the FT that a British-American trade agreement would be “very good news if it was a sign that we started to defuse this situation”.
Trump administration officials also organized talks with several countries, including Japan, Vietnam, India and the EU.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to go to Switzerland Thursday before talks with Chinese officials. Tensions between Washington and Beijing have sparked fears of a harmful drop in trade between the two largest economies in the world.
The White House did not respond to requests for comments.
