Keir Starmer begs Trump White House to start ‘phasing in' UK trade deal this week with Britain's car and steel industry still in limbo over tariffs
Sir Keir Starmer met the US commerce secretary in Downing Street last night, as No10 desperately tries to get Donald Trump to lift tariffs on cars and steel as soon as possible.
The Prime Minister dropped in on a meeting between Howard Lutnick and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in Downing Street on Tuesday, as the Government continues to push for its American trade deal to come into force.
Sir Keir and Trump hailed the broad terms of an agreement more than a month ago that would exempt the UK from some of the US president's punitive and widely criticised levies.
But the details are yet to be ironed out, despite warnings from industry that they could soon have to start looking at lay-offs.
Mr Lutnick was in London for talks with China on resolving the trade war between Washington and Beijing, and Mr Reynolds took the opportunity to meet him in person to push for the UK-US trade deal announced last month to be implemented as soon as possible.
The Guardian reported that No10 wants the deal to be in place as soon as this week, although the erratic nature of the Trump administration could prove a barrier.
The meeting follows talks between the Business Secretary and US trade representative Jamieson Greer in Paris last week.
Under the terms of the agreement announced by Sir Keir and Donald Trump, the US will implement import quotas that will effectively eliminate tariffs on British steel and cut the levy on vehicles to 10%.
But the deal has yet to be implemented and tariffs on both steel and cars remain at 25 per cent, although the UK has been spared the increase on steel duties to 50 per cent that Mr Trump imposed on the rest of the world last week.
In a post on social media, Mr Reynolds said he had discussed 'progress on our trade deal – including UK autos and steel' with Mr Lutnick.
UK officials remain hopeful that the deal will be implemented soon, but Tuesday's meeting does not appear to have moved the issue beyond both sides agreeing the need to move quickly.
Speaking in the Commons last week, Sir Keir said he was 'very confident' that tariffs would come down in line with the deal 'within a very short time'.
Implementing the deal will require the UK to pass legislation, likely to involve regulations rather than a full Act of Parliament, while the US will also need to create a legal mechanism to bring steel and vehicle quotas into effect.
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