Trump cuts British auto tariffs to 10%, hints at future deals
WASHINGTON - The United States has reduced tariffs on United Kingdom-made vehicles from 27.5% to 10%, providing import tax relief for a small but notable portion of the domestic auto market.
The reduction applies to the first 100,000 vehicles the United Kingdom sends stateside, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday morning in the Oval Office. That cap accounts for almost all of the country's U.S.-bound vehicles, which totaled about 101,000 units last year.
The deal - part of a broader bilateral agreement covering steel, agriculture and other industries - will benefit British luxury automakers like Jaguar-Land Rover, Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. that have no manufacturing presence in the United States. It comes about a month after Trump imposed a new 25% tariff on all foreign autos.
"We took it from 25 to 10 on Rolls-Royce, because Rolls-Royce is not going to be built here. I wouldn't even ask them to do that. It's a very special car, and it's a very limited number too," U.S. President Donald Trump said.
He continued: "They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury, and that includes Bentley and Jaguar. So we have some very special cars. So in order to help that industry, and that's really, you know, handmade stuff, and they've been doing it for a long time at the same location. And I said, 'Yeah, that would be good. Let's help them out with that.'"
The Republican leader contrasted those companies with other foreign automakers that make "millions of cars." Vehicles from other leading auto-producing countries like Germany and South Korea are still subject to Trump's new 25% import tax hike.
Those tariffs apply to vehicles from American companies like General Motors Co., which built about 400,00 of its U.S.-sold vehicles in Korea last year.
The U.S.-U.K. trade deal includes a "new trading union" for steel and aluminum, according to the White House. British officials said Thursday that the deal eliminates tariffs on those materials, previously set by Trump at 25%.
The president said the final details of the cross-Atlantic trade deal are not yet complete but will be "written up" in the coming weeks. He also reiterated, as he has for weeks, that more trade deals are coming soon, with Lutnick and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is leading those efforts.
"Scott is doing certain countries, and Howard's doing certain countries," Trump said, adding that the United States might unilaterally adjust tariff rates on some nations without reaching agreements. "We'll do a number of them."
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