Keir Starmer promises Trump trade deal will be in force in 'very short time'
The PM insisted the government is "working on it" to bring steel tariffs down to zero - as he promised when the deal was announced last month
Britain's trade deal with Donald Trump will be in force "within a very short time", Keir Starmer promised today - after the US President hiked global steel tariffs to 50%.
The PM had promised UK producers would be spared the tariffs - originally set at 25% - under the deal agreed on May 8.
But the Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD) has yet to be finalised.
On Tuesday night, Trump announced UK steel imports would continue to be subject to 25% tariffs until an agreement was reached.
But if the deal isn't implemented to his satisfaction by July 9, the US President warned the UK could be stung with the higher 50% rate.
"We are working on it to bring it down to zero, that is going to happen," Mr Starmer said at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday - after challenges from both Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.
He told MPs: "We have a deal and we are implementing it and within a very short time I am confident we will get those tariffs down in accordance with the deal."
Adding that he expected MPs would be "very pleased at the outcome of that", he said: "Let's come back in just a couple of weeks when we have implemented it."
After Prime Minister's Questions, Downing Street said Mr Starmer's confidence in finalising the deal was due to "constant dialogue" with the US.
But the Prime Minister's official spokesman would not guarantee that the deal would be in place by the July 9 deadline set by Trump, saying: "Obviously our aim is to implement this deal as quickly as possible and you have just heard from the PM in the House that we are hoping to provide an update on that in weeks."
But the Lib Dems urged Sir Keir to stand up to Mr Trump, saying the president had changed the terms of a deal he had already signed.
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Following Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Ed called on the Government to support his party's "Buy British" campaign, saying: " Donald Trump has taken our lunch money and is now coming back for more.
"Any deal he signs is already through the Oval Office shredder.
"It is time for the Government to admit that Trump's White House is not a reliable ally and get tough on ending this trade war by backing British businesses."
Meanwhile, both the steel industry and trade unions have urged the Government to finalise the agreement with Washington.
Gareth Stace, head of the industry body UK Steel, said Mr Trump's decision to keep tariffs on British steel at 25% was a "welcome pause" but warned that continuing uncertainty was making US customers "dubious over whether they should even risk making UK orders".
Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary of the Community union, also welcomed the "reprieve" from the 50% rate, and added it was "vital that the UK locks down the US trade deal to avoid punitive steel tariffs going forward."
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