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Telegraph
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Trump to cut tariffs on British cars ‘very soon', minister suggests
Donald Trump is set to cut tariffs on British cars within days, the Business Secretary has suggested. Jonathan Reynolds said he is 'very hopeful' that the carve out agreed as part of the UK's new trade deal with the US will be implemented by the end of the week. He said an update was expected 'very soon'. As part of the trade deal announced last month, the UK secured cuts to US tariffs on British cars from 25pc to 10pc for an agreed quota of 100,000 vehicles. Mr Reynolds also said Britain is 'ready to go' on its side of the bargain, which will involve slashing tariffs on US beef and ethanol imports which are used to make biofuels. While he has agreed a carve out for the UK, Mr Trump said on Thursday that he might increase tariffs on car imports more generally in the 'not too distant future'. US auto shares slumped shortly after his remarks, with shares in Ford down 1.6pc and those for General Motors sliding 1.5pc. The UK will be spared completely from levies on steel and aluminium, which rose to 25pc after Mr Trump kicked off his trade war in February. At the time, Sir Keir Starmer hailed the ' historic deal ', claiming it would 'protect thousands of British jobs in key sectors including car manufacturing and steel'. But it has still not been implemented more than a month later, with both Washington and London yet to take the necessary steps to put the plans into action. Speaking at a lunch for Westminster journalists on Thursday, Mr Reynolds said he was 'hopeful' that the first changes would be in place by the end of the week. It comes after the Business Secretary pushed for progress on the deal in talks with his US counterpart, Howard Lutnick, in Downing Street on Tuesday. Asked when British carmakers could expect tariffs to be cut, Mr Reynolds said: 'Very soon.' He added: 'Secretary Lutnik and I, with the Prime Minister, talked specifically about the institution of the automotive tariff reduction for the quota, which is part of our deal. And I am hoping to be able to update you all on that very soon.' Pressed on whether the changes could be in place by the end of the week, and if Sir Keir would raise the issue with Mr Trump at the upcoming G7 summit in Canada, he said: 'I'm very hopeful. It was a specific area of conversation on Tuesday in that bilateral meeting. 'We are ready to go on our side. In terms of the steps I need to take, I will inform the House with a written ministerial statement and lay the statutory instruments for the reciprocal part of that deal, which is obviously about beef and ethanol for us on this side. 'So we're ready to go, and as soon as the president and the White House on their side are able to, we will implement that part of the deal.' Mr Reynolds also defended the UK's nuclear submarine deal with the US and Australia after the Pentagon launched a review of the pact. It emerged on Wednesday that the US was considering ending the Aukus agreement, signed to great fanfare in 2021, in a potential blow to a security alliance between the three countries. Asked if he had concerns about the future of the deal, Mr Reynolds said: 'I would have a lot of confidence in anyone looking at the merits of that agreement and saying that is an incredibly strong and important agreement for the future. 'So if US colleagues want to look at it, ok, that's their right to do so. I think it is an incredibly compelling and strong agreement.' Meanwhile, Mr Reynolds revealed that he had been cleared by the solicitors' regulator over claims he lied about his legal career. The watchdog, which protects the public from bogus lawyers, launched an investigation into the Business Secretary earlier this year after it emerged he repeatedly described himself as a solicitor despite never qualifying. Asked for an update on the probe, Mr Reynolds said: 'They came back shortly after that media period to say look, always be careful to be accurate, but there's no misleading here, and there's nothing else to look into.'
Auto Express
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Express
You could soon be forced to rectify MoT advisories, and here's why
Over one in three MoT test failures in 2024 were found to be caused by faulty tyres, with safety concerns surrounding the decaying state of the rubber on British cars leading to calls for mandatory advisory follow-ups. Last year (2023-24), more than 2.15 million vehicles failed their annual MoT test after they were found to be fitted with heavily degraded tyres. This represents around one-in-five MoT failures and is an increase of roughly 100,000 over the previous year, as well as contributing to a total over a quarter of a million since 2019-20. Such a decline in the condition of the tyres on British cars is also highlighted by the fact that, of the over two million vehicles that failed, 750,000 had previously been flagged with a tyre-related advisory. This suggests that many drivers are ignoring advisories given during MoTs and could be driving around with illegal, or even dangerous tyres. Advertisement - Article continues below With the number of tyre-related MoT failures on the rise and some 1,700 people losing their lives in 2023 after being involved in accidents where tyre defects have been cited as aggravating factors, road safety charity TyreSafe is calling on the government for change. The charity's chairman, Stuart Lovatt, said: 'These figures strongly suggest a widespread lack of attention to a component that is literally the only contact between a vehicle and the road.' TyreSafe, alongside the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS), is now asking for what it describes as 'mandatory follow-up action within three months of a tyre advisory – such as driver alerts, prompts or proof-of-replacement requirements'. Of course, asking drivers to replace their tyres more frequently will, of course, come at a cost to the consumer. However, director of fleet risk management firm Verifleet, Richard Stowe, was keen to remind the public that, 'The consequences of inaction can be fatal. It's time we treated tyre safety with the seriousness it deserves.' All of this follows Auto Express' recent investigation into part-worn tyres, which found that shady businesses across the country are selling tyres that are below the legal requirements stated by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Consumer editor, Chris Rosamond, wrote to the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, calling for an immediate review of the regulations surrounding the part-worn tyre industry because, with TyreSafe estimates suggesting 94 per cent are being sold illegally, action must be taken to protect road users. Looking to replace your car tyres? Discover the best car tyres to buy now ...
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump gives break to Rolls-Royce cars but threatens more tariffs on Mattel toys
Luxury British carmakers like Rolls-Royce, Range Rover and Aston Martin will be getting a tariff reprieve under the outlines of a trade agreement President Donald Trump announced Thursday while doubling down on his threats to continue tariffs on toys. Shortly after announcing he would reduce the tariff on British cars to 10%, from 27.5%, Trump said he would keep steep tariffs on toymaker Mattel — even if the company moves its overseas production out of China, where it makes around 40% of its toys. Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said this week that the company was looking to shift more production out of China, but doesn't see it moving to the U.S. 'That's OK, let him go, and we'll put a 100% tariff on his toys, and he won't sell one toy in the United States, and that's their biggest market,' Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office. 'I heard that, I mean, I watched this guy talking about how I'm going to go counter. I said, 'Well, I wouldn't want to have him as an executive too long.'' But in giving a tariff break to Rolls-Royce, Trump dismissed the idea that those vehicles could be made in the U.S. Other luxury cars made in the U.K., like Range Rovers, Land Rovers and Jaguars, will also be exempt from the 25% tariff Trump put earlier this year on all auto imports and charged a lower rate of 10%, even though those automakers ship thousands more vehicles to the U.S. than Rolls-Royce '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," Trump said. "It's not, you know, one of the monster car companies that makes millions of cars. They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury." Mattel's Kreiz said the company has been shifting its production out of China for the past seven years and was looking to continue to diversify its supply chain in the coming months. Still, the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars told CNBC that 'where necessary, we will be taking pricing action in the U.S.' and didn't foresee being able to move manufacturing to the U.S. 'We believe that production in other countries, where we can be efficient and more productive, is the best balance between manufacturing outside of the U.S. and continuing to develop products in terms of design and creativity in America,' Kreiz said. The United States imports from China as much as 75% of the toy products it sells, according to the Commerce Department, making it one of the industries most reliant on that country's supply chain. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the impact of price increases on children's items produced in China, including toys and strollers, which are largely made there, though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said exemptions for baby products were 'under consideration.' Trump has put in place a 145% tariff on all Chinese imports, causing some companies to halt shipments to the U.S. from China or consider significant price increases. 'When you say strollers are going up, what kind of a thing? I'm saying that gasoline is going down. Gasoline is thousands of times more important than a stroller or something else,' Trump said in an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." 'I don't think that a beautiful baby girl needs — that's 11 years old — needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China,' Trump said on "Meet the Press. " 'I'm saying they don't need to have 30 dolls,' he added. This article was originally published on
