Chevron makes move into US lithium sector with acreage buy
June 17 (Reuters) - U.S. oil major Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab said on Tuesday its U.S. unit has acquired leasehold interests in about 125,000 net acres across northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas, marking its entry into domestic lithium production.
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Top Gear
14 minutes ago
- Top Gear
The US and UK have signed an agreement for a 10 per cent tariff on car imports
Business The reduced tariff now applies to the first 100,000 British-made cars imported into the States, but other details are missing Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading President Trump has officially signed an executive order giving the UK a more favourable 10 per cent tariff on car imports. Though, some bits and pieces are yet to be confirmed. More on that shortly. In broad terms, the tariff applies to the first 100,000 British-made vehicles imported by the USA. Now ratified, carmakers can begin to undo the temporary suspensions of their shipments and send stuff across the Atlantic again. The sighs from JLR, counting the US as its biggest market, are especially audible. Advertisement - Page continues below "We welcome the signing of the UK-US deal," the carmaker told "which gives a good level of relief from the steep and sudden US tariffs applied to the UK auto sector in April. We thank both governments and their teams for their work in bringing this deal about." SMMT boss Mike Hawes said: 'This is great news for the UK automotive industry, helping the sector avoid the severest level of tariffs and enabling many manufacturers to resume deliveries imminently.' You might like But it's not all gravy yet. There are still details to be announced 'in coming weeks' according to President Trump. They include confirmation of the tariff on steel and aluminium (a handshake agreement in principle is that the tariff will drop to zero). What's more, EU vehicles – for example, the Mini Countryman built in Germany – will still be liable for the higher 25 per cent blanket tariff. Ouch. Hawes added: 'We wait to see the full details of the deal and how it will be administered but this will be a huge reassurance to those that work in the sector and bolster the confidence of our important US customers. Advertisement - Page continues below "The fact the UK has secured a deal, ahead of many competitors, and which makes automotive a priority, should be recognised as a significant achievement.' Looking for more from the USA? Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
Will the US-UK trade deal make Starmer popular again?
To general surprise, at least as to the location and the timing, the British prime minister and the American president have confirmed that the US-UK economic prosperity deal (EPD) has indeed been signed and will now be in force. It is the first, and only, trade deal of any kind to have been signed by the Trump administration since 'Liberation Day' on 2 April. It was a notable moment, but for Keir Starmer, one question will be how far it will go in helping his government recover from its rapid fall from grace since the general election... What's with the optics? Obviously, someone – possibly in the British embassy in Washington – came up with the idea of the president and his counterpart springing the announcement on the world's media when they were least expecting it, for maximum impact. So instead of the usual photo-op in the Oval Office, with Trump signing the executive order and then posing with it for the cameras, it was displayed in the open air at an impromptu press conference. The pages fell out of the presidential folder, to be retrieved by Starmer, but that just seemed to add to the easy informality of the occasion. The prime minister was allowed to address the president as 'Donald', and Trump said nice things about him. The British are to be shielded from further tariffs because, as Trump put it, 'I like them', and he thinks Starmer's team are 'great people'. What's missing? Steel, most urgently. The Americans insist that steel 'made in Britain' should be virgin and not dependent on raw materials from, let us say, China or the EU. For the steel works at Port Talbot that implies trouble, because the capacity to make such steel has been lost with the closure of the last blast furnace, now replaced with electric arc technology. So the ruinous 25 per cent tariff on UK steel exports to the US will stay, after all, and will rise to a prohibitive 50 per cent on 9 July. Politically, if Starmer can get the right conditions over the line by then and the threat of such tariffs subsides, it will mean a great deal to the voters in south Wales, who are being enthusiastically, if cynically, courted by Reform UK ahead of next year's Welsh parliament elections. Scunthorpe, too, should benefit from the deal, with a comparable electoral dividend. Any other winners? The car industry, especially Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Aston Martin in the Midlands, plus Bentley in Crewe, Rolls-Royce in Sussex, and similar centres for export production. Aerospace actually escapes US tariffs completely, which is excellent news for manufacturing centres in Derby, the northwest, north Wales and Bristol. With the orders going in for new rails, girders, and the defence industry, the government can make some claim to be rebuilding the industrial base – although high energy prices remain an obstacle to competitiveness. The government, particularly Ed Miliband, has probably yet to win the argument that renewables are a cheaper and reliable alternative to fossil fuels. Even the farmers, badly disadvantaged in the Australian and New Zealand trade deals, have some protections against low-cost US imports. The economy as a whole? Broadly, on US trade, things are worse than they were under Joe Biden, but better than they would be without a deal. It's only fair to add that if the UK were still in the EU then a trade deal would not yet have occurred, although the EU's collective bargaining strength may in time prove to be a strategic advantage in securing better terms. In terms of growth, the net effects will be small, given that the 10 per cent US 'baseline' tariff implemented by the Trump administration remains on all other UK goods. But, again, the situation is undoubtedly better than it would otherwise have been. For a government and a nation desperate for growth, this partial relaxation of US taxes, the Indian free trade deal, and, most of all, the EU 'reset', should boost overall growth by a modest but useful amount. The EPD also has the promise of more cooperation on everything from financial services to AI. What could go wrong? The NHS uses its huge purchasing power to drive a hard bargain with US pharma giants, and these companies, along with the president, resent the way in which so much of the production of final products, and of the compounds used to manufacture them, has been outsourced by the US. There are vague but ominous-sounding words in the EPD about this: 'The United States and the United Kingdom intend to promptly negotiate significantly preferential treatment outcomes on pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients. The United Kingdom confirms that it will endeavour to improve the overall environment for pharmaceutical companies operating in the United Kingdom.' The treatment of US pharma giants has long been a complaint of Trump's. A net gain in the domestic political balance of trade? Yes. Starmer has done well on the international stage, and all these deals show that his government can actually get things done. It adds some lustre to Starmer's dullish image, and also adds to his 'prime ministerial' air, which contrasts with that of the more inexperienced Badenoch and the 'unserious' Nigel Farage. Starmer could plausibly claim to be the kind of steady, dependable leader needed to steer the country through stormy times, even if he sometimes needs to adjust course. The local economic boost in areas most affected will help, as well as the contribution to growth at the national level. But, as ever, a demanding electorate will want to feel the tangible benefit of growing real wages, stabilised taxes, and improving public services before Labour can dream of catching up with Reform UK. Deals such as this, alongside some dramatic U-turns on the winter fuel payment and the grooming gangs, give the government hope that it's at least possible to win some voters back.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
London-listed Tullow Oil sees merger with Meren Energy collapse
Talks about a merger involving Tullow Oil, the London-listed African oil explorer, and Meren Energy, a Canadian-listed peer, have collapsed. Sky News has learnt that discussions about a tie-up were progressing as recently as this month but are now said to have been terminated. It was unclear on Tuesday evening what the reason was for the abandonment of the negotiations. Tullow Oil, which has a market valuation of about £275m, is focused on West-African producing assets in Ghana, Gabon and the Ivory Coast. The company has seen its stock plunge dramatically since its peak valuation of about £15bn. Last December, it saw merger talks involving Kosmos Energy fall apart. Meren Energy, which until recently was called Africa Oil Corp, is substantially larger than Tullow Oil in valuation terms. Listed in Canada and Sweden, it has a market capitalisation equivalent to approximately £980m. Run by chief executive Roger Tucker, Meren recently said it had up to $500m to spend on acquiring producing assets in Africa.
