Starmer Says No Obstacles Left in Finishing US-UK Trade Deal
(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there are no 'hiccups or obstacles' remaining in the way of finalizing a trade deal with the US and indicated that an agreement would likely come soon.
Starmer's comments, ahead of a summit meeting with other G-7 leaders in Canada this weekend, follow negotiations between US and UK officials in London aimed at hashing out the details of the pact he and US President Donald Trump announced last month.
'I'm hoping that we will complete it pretty soon,' Starmer said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday, referring to the deal. 'There's nothing unexpected in the implementation, and so we haven't got any hiccups or obstacles.'
Pushing the trade deal over the line would be a win for Starmer, who was elected last July on a promise to boost economic growth in the UK, only see his popularity slide as that goal proved elusive during his 11 months in office.
Such an agreement would shelter key industries from the more punitive tariffs the US has rolled out on imports from around the world. While the UK was the first to reach such a deal with the Trump administration, the finer points were left up to future negotiations.
'We're in the final stages of implementing now. I'm very pleased that we reached that agreement,' Starmer said. 'We are at the implementation stage, but we're at the end of that process, and I hope that we can complete it pretty soon now.'
Under the initial terms announced last month, the US said it intended to cut its tariff on cars imported from the UK from 27.5% to 10% for the first 100,000 vehicles each year and drop levies on UK steel from the current 25% to zero. In return, the UK vowed to increase the quota of beef and ethanol that the US can export to the country tariff-free.
Car manufacturers would especially welcome the reduction of US tariffs after warning that Trump's levy could wreak havoc on the sector and risk thousands of jobs. Starmer said the initial terms of the trade deal laid out in May were 'a huge relief to car manufacturing, those working in the sector,' adding that there were 'jobs protected, jobs created by this deal.'
Securing agreement on the entire deal would also bring relief to the UK's beleaguered steel sector. The UK is currently the only country to avoid the 50% tariff on steel that Trump announced last month, but that higher rate could still be imposed if a deal is not reached. British companies have already reported US orders drying up under the 25% rate.
A deal could depend on Downing Street easing US concerns over the Chinese ownership of British Steel. Jingye Group still owns the company even though the UK government took over operational control earlier this year.
UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, however, said Thursday that the talks over steel were now 'not about who owns it — it's the melt and pour rules.' The melt-and-pour provisions are designed to prevent steel that was made outside of the UK from being reprocessed in the country and shipped to the US in circumvention of tariffs. They require that steel imports from the UK be made entirely in the country, either from primary ores or from remelted scrap metal.
That has becoming increasingly difficult since British Steel is the last producer in the UK running blast furnaces that can make it from scratch with primary ores. Tata Steel UK, British Steel's largest competitor, shut down its blast furnace last year and won't have replacement furnaces to melt steel from scrap in place until late 2027.
Starmer confirmed that Trump would still be coming to the UK for a state visit after he gave the US president an invitation from King Charles when the trade deal was agreed in May. Starmer said he hoped it would be this year, though it would be for Buckingham Palace to decide the dates.
'I'm really pleased that we will be able to showcase the close relationship we have between the UK and the US,' Starmer said. 'This will be a historic second visit for President Trump.'
--With assistance from Mark Burton.
(Updates with Starmer's comment in sixth paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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