CNN
—
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Thursday the first commercial agreement of his second term, with the United Kingdom, in a significant milestone of his commercial war in constant evolution.
Trump said the agreement means that the United Kingdom will “accelerate” American products through its customs processes.
“With this agreement, the United Kingdom joins the United States to affirm that reciprocity and equity are an essential and vital principle of international trade,” Trump said at a press conference this Thursday from the Oval Office.
“The agreement includes billions of dollars of greater access to the market for US exports, especially in agriculture, drastically increasing access for American beef, ethanol and practically all products produced by our large farmers.”
The agreement occurs a month after the Trump government announced massive tariffs to dozens of countries, including the United Kingdom, seeking to deal with what Trump considers an unfair trade. These historical increases in tariffs were delayed until July, after entering just a few hours, to allow the administration to negotiate agreements with other countries.
last week, Trump said the commercial agreements with South Korea, India and Japan are also imminent.
Trump first advanced the announcement of the commercial agreement in a publication in his social network Truth Social on Wednesday.
The Prime minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, told President Trump that his countries “finish polishing some details” of his commercial agreement, but that “they built an incredible platform for the future.”
Starmer communicated with the Oval Office, where Trump met with journalists, and said: “This will boost trade between our countries.”
“With this president and this prime minister we achieve what many people have tried to achieve for many years,” said Starmer, adding that “he feels completely historical.”
“Yes, we can finish polishing some details, but here is a fantastic platform,” said the British president.
Calling him “Donald”, Starmer praised the leadership of the president of the USA and talked about the relationship between the two countries on the 80th anniversary of victory day in Europe. “That day, the United States and the United Kingdom allied themselves as the narrowest of the allies,” said Starmer. “That close relationship has endured throughout those 80 years.”
The commercial agreement between the US and the United Kingdom will reduce tariffs on British cars from 27.5 % to 10 % for 100,000 vehicles each year, Starmer said during a press conference in England this Thursday.
“It will eliminate tariffs on British steel and aluminum, reducing them to zero,” and “will grant unprecedented access to British farmers without compromising our high standards,” Starmer added.
According to industry data, last year United Kingdom sent steel to the United States worth 370 million pounds (US $ 492 million), which represents 9 % of the total British steel exports.
In his speech at a Jaguar Land Rover plant in the West Midlands region, Starmer added: “We are sending to the world the message that the United Kingdom is open to business: looking for trade agreements with India on Tuesday, with the United States today and also working to boost trade with other partners, including of course the European Union.”
Starmer defended the relationship he has built with Trump. “In recent years the idea has been installed that sometimes you demonstrate your strength rejecting your allies. That you close the door, hang the phone, you leave angry,” he said.
“I have had many people who have urged me to do that, instead of staying in the room and fighting for the interests of our country … that is not how this government works.”
The commercial agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom released this Thursday is an important diplomatic victory for the British government and seems to claim the friendly and cautious relationship that the United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has built with Trump.
Starmer has resisted criticizing the US president. Even when Trump has outraged the rest of Westminster: a tariff cut was the prize that Starmer was looking for over all others.
A broader commercial pact with Washington, similar to the United Kingdom-India pact agreed before this week, has been persecuted by successive governments after Brexit, but has been stubbornly elusive.
The words of the former president of the United States Barack Obama in 2016 – especially that London would be at the “end of the row” for an agreement if he voted in favor of leaving the European Union – have persecuted British negotiators. A decade later, it seems that the United Kingdom made its way to the front.
But there is still work to do. In his first year in office, Starmer has juggled to promote closer relations with the United States, Europe and China. Each relationship entails an economic promise for a country ravaged for a decade of low growth.
But the management of associations with competitive powers involves risks for a prime minister who is making his way to the world scene. Starmer’s next priority will be an agreement with Brussels that loosen some of Brexit’s shackles, and surveys suggest that the British favor closer ties with Europe than with the Trump administration.
