Latest news with #UKTradeDeal
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Crunch talks with President Trump over a US-UK trade deal in doubt over new Chinese ‘super-embassy' in London, with the White House said to be 'very concerned'
Crunch talks over a UK trade deal with Donald Trump have been thrown into jeopardy by plans for a new Chinese 'super- embassy' in London, diplomatic sources have revealed. White House sources said the US Government was 'very concerned' about the risk the embassy posed to America's interests in the City as a result of Beijing 's spies potentially tapping into sensitive financial cables. As a result, Washington's trade deal negotiators are understood to have asked for a ' China lock' as part of the talks, which would guarantee the development will not present a security threat to the US. American officials are now also more concerned about the risk of sharing high-grade intelligence with Britain. A source said: 'The issue has led to undoubted tension during the talks. The British have been desperate to play down the concerns, even though their own intelligence services have made their worries clear.' It comes as British negotiators are racing to implement the trade deal struck in principle between Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer, which would exempt the UK from crippling steel tariffs imposed by the US President. No 10 controversially revived plans for the new development on the site of the Royal Mint buildings by the Tower of London, despite them being blocked by the previous government after warnings from MI5 and Scotland Yard. The Bank of England has also warned No 10 about the risks of allowing it to be built close to sensitive financial centres in the City. Mapping data shows that the proposed site for the embassy lies directly between financial hubs in the City and Canary Wharf and close to three major data centres, including the Stock Exchange. Earlier this year, The Mail on Sunday revealed that planning documents for the embassy included 'spy dungeons' – two suites of anonymous basement rooms and a tunnel, with their purpose redacted for security reasons. The Government has refused to disclose whether it is backing the plans in order to boost trading relations with the Chinese. Within a fortnight of Rachel Reeves returning from an official visit to China earlier this year, both Scotland Yard and Tower Hamlets Council mysteriously dropped their objections to the project. Shadow levelling up secretary Kevin Hollinrake has said the lack of information about the 'dungeons' was 'striking', adding: 'There is a chilling prospect that it could be used for the abduction, intimidation or torture of anti-Chinese dissidents living in the UK.' The Chinese have dismissed claims the embassy could be an espionage hub, saying: 'Anti-China elements are always keen on slandering and attacking China.' Intelligence activity by Chinese spies is said to be at an all-time-high in the UK, with agents believed to be eavesdropping on political figures by bugging buildings in Whitehall and park benches.
National Post
22-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Trump will be coming to Canada to attend G7 summit in June, White House confirms
President Donald Trump will attend the Group of Seven summit in June, as tensions over trade and his efforts to halt Russia's war in Ukraine cloud U.S. ties with some of its closest allies. Article content Article content White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump would attend the gathering from June 15 to 17. Article content This year's G7 leaders summit will be held in Kananaskis, taking Trump to Canada — whose economy and sovereignty have faced threats from the U.S. president — highlighting how his policies to reshape global trade and defence ties have upended long-standing relationships. Article content Article content Trump has repeatedly suggested Canada should become the 51st U.S. state, and his sweeping tariffs threaten to damage one of the world's largest trading relationships, with the two neighbours exchanging $916 billion in goods and services in 2024. Article content Article content Trump's import taxes will be high on the agenda as U.S. trading partners look to secure deals to avoid higher levies. The president in May unveiled a trade deal with the United Kingdom, though the details fell short of the 'full and comprehensive' agreement he cast it as, and the U.S. and China have agreed to slash their tit-for-tat tariffs in a bid to ease negotiations. Article content Still, the president has indicated he is moving away from engaging in negotiations with many countries and will look to dictate some tariff levels on his own. The sweeping levies on dozens of nations and on key sectors have spurred worries about a global slowdown. Article content Article content Ahead of the June leaders' summit, the G7's top finance ministers, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, gathered in Canada this week confronting worries about slower growth and higher inflation from the trade war, and looking to find common ground. Article content Article content A far more contentious issue facing the G7 leaders is support for Ukraine. European allies' hopes that Trump would raise pressure on Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine were dashed earlier in May after he spoke to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Article content Trump said Ukraine and Russia would begin negotiations toward a halt in the fighting after the call, but offered no sanctions threat or timeline to push Putin toward peace, frustrating Kyiv and its allies. Putin has presented only maximalist demands, confident that his forces hold the upper hand in a war against Ukraine that he launched, and which is now in its fourth year.
The Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Supermarkets have no plans to sell American beef as politicians thrash out Trump trade deal
SUPERMARKETS have told The Sun they have no plans to sell American beef, upping the stakes for politicians thrashing out the details of a UK-US trade deal. Donald Trump and Keir Starmer announced the outline of an agreement last week that would allow up to 13,000 tons of US beef to be imported here tariff-free. 3 3 That is the equivalent of one medium steak per Brit per year. Currently the UK imports just £24million worth of beef a year, but Trump's team have called the deal a $5billion opportunity. However, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and The Co-op all said they have no plan to switch from UK and Irish farmers. And the Government has said that imports of hormone-treated beef or chlorinated chicken will remain illegal. Tesco boss Ken Murphy said this week that he had no plan to sell US beef. He said: 'We source 100 per cent Irish and British and for the foreseeable future that policy will be the same.' Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons also said they don't intend to change supply or animal welfare and food standards. Budget pair Lidl and Aldi are also not budging on beef. Aldi chief exec Giles Hurley said: 'British farming is known for its high welfare, food safety and environmental standards — and we know how important that is to our customers.' Iceland boss Richard Walker said there was no appetite for US beef from customers or supermarket suppliers. He said: 'Consensus is that even at a ten per cent tariff it's a very price prohibitive option.' The Co-op's Matt Hood said: 'We're a long-term supporter of British farming, and the first national UK grocer to switch to 100 per cent British fresh and frozen own brand protein.' The National Farmers Union said: 'It's brilliant to see supermarkets championing British beef. Consumers value its high standards in animal welfare.' A government spokesman said: 'This is a great deal as we have opened access to a huge American market, without weakening UK food standards on imports.' Premier in £1B league PORRIDGE pots and Japanese noodles have helped to lift Premier Foods' branded revenues above £1billion for the first time. The Mr Kipling cake to Bisto gravy maker has been broadening its pantry with new products. Boss Alex Whitehouse said the firm was exploring 'mergers and acquisitions' after buying Spice Tailor in 2022 and entering a strategic partnership with Japan's Nissin Foods in 2016. Premier, which hailed its Ambrosia Porridge for growth, posted a 5.2 per cent rise in branded sales, boosting overall turnover by 3.5 per cent to £1.14billion. Pre-tax profits rose 6.5 per cent to £161.3million. Butty giant spreading GREENCORE, the UK's biggest sandwiches maker, announced it has agreed a £1.2billion takeover of rival Bakkavor to create a food -to-go giant. It will see £4billion of revenues generated from selling pizzas, soups, salads and sushi to almost all of Britain's supermarkets. But workers fear job cuts after the firms said they would save at least £80million in costs a year after the deal. GMB union national officer Eamon O'Hearn said: 'The likelihood of site closures and drop in headcount confirms our worst fears — that hard-working production staff will be facing job losses.' It's dirty business THE water firm accused of dumping sewage into Windermere has posted a doubling in profits a month after hiking customer bills. United Utilities said they had soared to £355million and it would be bumping its dividend by 4.2 per cent to 34.6p. It recently put bills in the North West up by £86 and says they will rise by an average of 32 per cent over five years. It said the increase was needed to fund £13.7billion of upgrades to its pipes and sewers. ITV's not love sick with US LOVE Island broadcaster ITV yesterday shrugged off any US tariff concerns as bosses highlighted its Studios arm made TV shows, not films. President Trump has spooked Britain's creative industry by slapping 100 per cent tariffs on movies 'produced in foreign lands'. 3 ITV yesterday said it did not 'anticipate any direct impact'. It came as the company toasted a return to growth for the Studios business, with revenue up one per cent at £386million after years of disruption from the Hollywood writers' strike. Speculation about a takeover of ITV or the Studios business continues to run rife, but insiders downplayed rumours. The broadcaster, fresh from winning a Bafta for Mr Bates vs The Post Office, expects advertising revenue to be lower than last year, when companies spent big on ads during the Euros footie tournament. Covid fraud axe MINISTERS have scrapped a Covid fraud recovery unit and transferred investigations to the Insolvency Service — after realising even more taxpayer cash was being wasted. Around £47billion was paid to firms as bounceback loans but there had been more than 100,000 cases of fraud and error. The National Investigation Service received £38.5million in state funding but has secured just 14 convictions. Trade minister Gareth Thomas said transferring the probes would 'remove unnecessary waste and inefficiency'. B&M goes Dutch DISCOUNT chain B&M has hired a Dutch former Tesco executive in the latest sign of FTSE firms looking abroad for leadership. Tjeerd Jegen, who recently led Europe's biggest ebike maker Accell Group, has also worked at German clothing chain Takko Fashion and Dutch retailer Hema. He led Tesco's Malaysian business in 2010 and was its chief operating officer in Thailand before that. B&M pushed out ex-boss Alex Russo after two profit warnings in as many months.
Reuters
13-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Britain's Tesco has no plans to source American beef
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Tesco (TSCO.L), opens new tab, Britain's biggest supermarket group, has no plans to source American beef despite last week's U.S.-UK trade deal giving the product access to the UK market. The deal gave U.S. farmers a quota of 13,000 metric tonnes for beef which meets UK standards, with UK farmers having the same quota for sales into the United States. "We source 100% Irish and British beef in Tesco and for the foreseeable future that policy will be the same, we're not planning to change it," Tesco CEO Ken Murphy told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Retail Congress. As market leader, Tesco has a 28% share of Britain's grocery market. No. 2 player Sainsbury's (SBRY.L), opens new tab, which has 15% of the market, similarly sources all of its beef from Britain and Ireland. Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hailed American beef as "the safest, the best quality and the crown jewel of American agriculture" and predicted the trade deal would "exponentially increase" U.S. beef exports to Britain. However, with little difference between prices of British-produced beef and U.S. beef that does meet UK standards, the U.S. product could struggle to find a UK market.
Bloomberg
09-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Merz Tells Trump He Can't Do Side Deals With EU Nations on Trade
Germany 's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he told US President Donald Trump that he can negotiate trade matters only with the European Union and there can't be any side deals with individual member states. Speaking to reporters on Friday during his first visit in Brussels since his election as chancellor in Berlin earlier this week, Merz said he congratulated Trump on the recent conclusion of a trade agreement with the former EU member state Britain.
