Chris Mason: Starmer can claim limited win with America deal

BBC News

08-05-2025

It is turning out to be quite the month for trade deals of various complexions.There was the one with India earlier this week, now the pact with the US, and a new deal with the European Union is expected the week after next at a UK-EU summit in London.All sorts of arrangements, varying significantly, can huddle under the umbrella vocabulary of a trade deal and this trio of agreements is very different.Let's unpick a little of what we have learnt about this deal with America.
Firstly, ministers are determined to project these deals in real world terms, surrounding themselves by workers and industry, not charts and percentages.And there was a particular reason that went beyond the symmetry of the Prime Minister returning to the same production line he visited a month ago, Jaguar Land Rover's in Solihull in the West Midlands.Yes, he had taken us there shortly after President Trump hammered the British car industry with huge tariffs and JLR had suspended exports to America.But there was also a keen awareness in government of how bleak things looked for this company, and others, if this wasn't sorted and sorted sharp-ish.Chatting to the Mayor of the West Midlands, Labour's Richard Parker, his sense of relief was palpable.The tariffs on the car industry haven't disappeared or even returned to where they were, but they have fallen significantly – and that matters hugely to the viability of the sector and so the wider economy of the region.And this is where speed matters too – the government's diplomatic achievement in sorting this deal before anyone else delivers that reprieve sooner and that matters for companies' bottom lines and budgets.
US and UK agree deal slashing Trump tariffs on cars and metalsWhat is in the UK-US tariff deal?US agreement leaves the UK open to do a much more significant EU deal
But some others among the Prime Minister's political opponents accuse him of over claiming - adopting the bombast and hyperbole of President Trump in how he has decided to describe this deal.They argue too it is primarily about mitigating the recent cranking up of tariffs, rather than a deep and broad free trade agreement – and there is something in that critique.I put this to Sir Keir Starmer: that while his deal may offer better trading conditions for some than were available a few days ago, they aren't necessarily better than six months ago.He tacitly acknowledged that, arguing instead that our focus should be comparing with the very recent past.In truth, American might garnished with Trumpian brute force has hurried along these negotiations and this is far from the deal some talked about during President Trump's first term.But that does cut both ways – the UK hasn't had to dilute its Digital Services Tax, which generates the best part of a billion pounds a year from some of the big US tech giants, for instance.Neither is it sufficiently deep that questions about the NHS or food standards have become embroiled in the arrangement.Discussions, we are told, are ongoing about trying to cut the ten per cent tariff America has imposed on most products the UK sells there and which remains in place.Next, let's see what America arranges with others and let's see what President Trump says next – talk of tariffs on the film industry still loiter, for instance.As ever with deals like this, particularly where there is still quite a bit of work to be done on them, detail is key.Industries and businesses around the UK will pore over the specifics as they emerge to determine the implications for them.For the Prime Minister, walking towards political headwinds international and domestic, he can chalk this up as good news, if limited good news – but good news he will bank.
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