Latest news with #UKUSDeal
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
China lashes out at PM's trade deal with Trump complaining it is designed to damage them - as Kemi Badenoch mocks 'tiny' agreement
China has lashed out at the UK-US trade deal - complaining that it is designed to damage them. Beijing warned the pact broke 'basic principles' after it featured a commitment to 'address non-market policies of third countries'. That is understood to mean preventing the UK becoming a 'backdoor' for China to export into America. The intervention underlines the headaches for Keir Starmer in navigating tensions between major economic powers. Meanwhile, Sir Keir was mocked over the 'tiny' agreement with Donald Trump as he faced Kemi Badenoch at PMQs in the Commons this lunchtime. The Tory leader said: 'I'm very happy to welcome his tiny tariff deal, but the fact is it has put us in a worse position than we were in March. He should not overegg the pudding.' A clearly angry premier replied: 'I think she just said a tiny tariff deal. Can I suggest she gets the train to Solihull, two hours, go to speak to the workforce at JLR (Jaguar Land Rover), their families, their communities, to tell them she would rip up the deal that protects their jobs. 'And when she's done that she might travel across to Scunthorpe and tell the steelworkers there she's going to rip up the deal that saves their jobs, and then if she's got time she can go up to Scotland and talk to the whisky distilleries, tell them she'd rip up the deal that's creating 1,200 jobs for them, boosting their exports, and then come back here next week and tell us what reaction she got.' In a statement report by the Financial Times, Beijing's foreign ministry said: 'Co-operation between states should not be conducted against or to the detriment of the interests of third parties.' Relations between London and Beijing have thawed under Labour, with a resumption of high-level engagement following years of little contact under the previous Tory administration. Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited the country in January, saying agreements worth £600million to the UK over the next five years had been reached on the trip. The deal agreed between Britain and the US removes the 25 per cent tariff rate on UK steel and aluminium exports in exchange for giving America's agricultural industry greater access to British markets. American levies on British cars fall from 25 per cent to 10 per cent for the first 100,000 vehicles exported to the US. However, a 10 per cent baseline tariff on most goods remains in place. A Government source said it was 'for other countries to determine what is in their national interest' and that the UK 'continues to be open to investment from a wide range of countries including China.' A Government spokesman said: 'This Government signed a deal with the US in the national interest to secure thousands of jobs across key sectors, protect British businesses and lay the groundwork for greater trade in the future. 'In line with our long-term, consistent approach, trade and investment with China remain important to the UK. We are continuing to engage pragmatically in areas that are rooted in UK and global interests and co-operate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must.'
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
China issues warning to UK over terms of US trade deal
China has warned the UK over its new trade deal with the US, accusing Britain of aligning with the US in a move that could compel British companies to exclude Chinese products from their supply chains. The UK-US trade deal, signed last week, offers Britain limited relief from US tariffs on car and steel exports, but only if it complies with strict American security requirements. These conditions include scrutinising supply chains and ownership structures – a move widely interpreted as targeting Chinese involvement. Beijing argues the agreement violates the principle that international agreements should not target third countries, noting this is a 'basic principle'. China's foreign ministry criticised the agreement in a statement to the Financial Times. It said: 'Cooperation between states should not be conducted against or to the detriment of the interests of third parties.' Beijing fears these clauses are designed to pressure allies into excluding Chinese products, in effect isolating China economically. China is doubling down on what it calls 'dual circulation' – boosting domestic production and resilience so its economy can thrive. State-backed companies are being pushed to source components locally, and ministries are funnelling support into advanced manufacturing and green technology. Under the the UK-US signed last week the US agreed to reduce tariffs on British car exports from 27.5% to 10%, applicable to a quota of 100,000 vehicles annually. Tariffs on UK steel and aluminium have also been lifted, provided British companies meet strict US security conditions, particularly around supply chain transparency and foreign ownership – measures that implicitly limit Chinese involvement. The deal also includes liberalised quotas for US beef and ethanol exports to the UK, alongside a commitment to explore deeper cooperation in pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing, contingent again on UK compliance with US security provisions. The timing of the UK-US trade agreement is sensitive given Keir Starmer's government has been seeking to improve relations with China. Despite the tension, No 10 says the trade deal is intended to secure jobs and protect British businesses. A UK government spokesperson maintained that 'trade and investment with China remain important to the UK', emphasising a pragmatic approach to international relations. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Earlier this year, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, visited Beijing to restart economic and financial dialogues that had been dormant for six years. Other Chinese officials also criticised the UK's decision to accept the US deal's terms, viewing it as a departure from their efforts to rebuild bilateral ties. Zhang Yansheng, a senior researcher at the China Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said the UK's actions were 'not fair to China'. He described the deal's clauses as 'poison pills' that were worse than tariffs.
South China Morning Post
14-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Britain blinked against a bullying Trumpian America. Others must not
The UK-US trade deal, trumpeted by President Donald Trump as a grand achievement, is no triumph of statecraft. It is a hollow spectacle , political theatre masquerading as economic progress. Advertisement For Britain, it lays bare the perils of negotiating from weakness. For other major economies – the European Union Japan or China – it stands as a cautionary tale. They must heed Britain's experience: strength, not desperation, must define their approach; substance, not optics, must be their demand. Strip away the bombast, and the deal reveals itself as lopsided. Britain receives some relief on tariffs on cars and steel, and secures modest access to US markets for agricultural goods but at a steep cost: acquiescence to stringent American standards that threaten to undercut its own producers. Meanwhile, a 10 per cent tariff persists on most British exports, still higher than a few months ago. In return, the US gains expansive entry into British markets – pharmaceuticals, technology services – offering little in meaningful reciprocity. The UK government said the deal was needed to save up to 150,000 jobs. This is not the art of the deal – it is a strategic capitulation. But Britain is vulnerable – born of post-Brexit isolation . Having cast off the EU, the country drifts economically, burdened by a shrinking economy and rising unemployment. Advertisement
The Independent
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
China attacks UK trade deal with US
China has criticised the UK-US trade deal in a potential blow to the Government's bid to revive relations with the country. Beijing said it was a 'basic principle' that such agreements should not target other nations. Britain's deal with America, which was the Trump administration's first since it unveiled sweeping global tariffs last month, includes an agreement to co-ordinate to 'address non-market policies of third countries.' It is understood that this clause is intended to prevent the UK becoming a 'backdoor' for circumvention of American measures on trade and security in relation to nations such as China through its exports to the country. 'Co-operation between states should not be conducted against or to the detriment of the interests of third parties,' Beijing's foreign ministry told the Financial Times. The statement poses difficulties for Sir Keir Starmer's Government as it seeks to navigate its trading position between two economic superpowers. Relations between London and Beijing have thawed under Labour, with a resumption of high-level engagement following years of little contact under the previous Tory administration. Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited the country in January, saying agreements worth £600 million to the UK over the next five years had been reached on the trip. Meanwhile, the deal agreed between Britain and the US removes the 25% tariff rate on UK steel and aluminium exports in exchange for giving America's agricultural industry greater access to British markets. American levies on British cars fall to 10% for the first 100,000 vehicles exported to the US, but a 10% baseline tariff on most goods remains in place. A Government source said it was 'for other countries to determine what is in their national interest' and that the UK 'continues to be open to investment from a wide range of countries including China.' A Government spokesperson said: 'This Government signed a deal with the US in the national interest to secure thousands of jobs across key sectors, protect British businesses and lay the groundwork for greater trade in the future. 'In line with our long-term, consistent approach, trade and investment with China remain important to the UK. We are continuing to engage pragmatically in areas that are rooted in UK and global interests and co-operate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trade deal platform for going further
Lord Mandelson has hailed this week's UK-US trade deal a "platform for going further and opening up more trade opportunities", in his first interview taking up his role as the UK's ambassador to the US. The deal has reduced or removed tariffs that were recently impposed by US President Donald Trump on some of his nation's imports from the UK, including cars, steel and aluminium. Former New Labour cabinet member Lord Mandelson has played a crucial role in negotiations between the two nations since he started his job in February. Speaking to BBC Two's Newsnight he said he was "looking forward" to further agreements to bring "down further tariffs". On Donald Trump's self-declared Liberation Day in early April he announced that the UK would be subject to 10% tariffs on the all the goods it exports to the US. More stringent measures were later applied to cars, steel and aluminium. But on Thursday, the US agreed to allow some steel and aluminium into the country tariff-free, and reduced the levies on a set number of British cars. Since then, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmerhas said there are "ongoing discussions" with the US over the UK's own Digital Services Tax (DST) - a 2% levy that raises about £800m a year mainly from US tech companies. Lord Mandelson said it was discussed during the latest round of negotiations between the two nations but he said "abolishing" the DST had not been part of the trade deal. "If the Americans want to come back and discuss the digital services tax, it's up to them," he said. "What they suggested wasn't acceptable to us, so it's not in the deal," he explained. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Thursday that President Trump's administration was still pressing the UK to lift the tax, referring to it as a "bad virus". He told reporters at the White House: "We're still in a very big deal to President Trump." When asked by Newsnight's Matt Chorley about his observations on the relationship between Starmer and Trump, the ambassador said that while they were "not cut from the same cloth... they do both stand up for and defend their national interests". He continued: "And where they see those interests converging or whether they've got to be made to work well, they set their minds to achieving that, and they do it very well. "They do it by talking well to each other, very straightforwardly. They have trust in one another." Lod Mandelson explained that this makes Starmer the a prime minister "who's going to stand up for Britain internationally, who's going properly to explain and defend our national interest... [and] maintain good relationships" with close allies. He said that following the UK-US deal, he had received "a lot of messages from fellow ambassadors here in Washington saying, 'congratulations, wish we were in the same position, how did you do it?'" He added: "So that's something, that's a feather in our caps and something you and others, if I might suggest, should celebrate." On his own relationship with the US president, Lord Mandelson said when he first walked into the Oval Office, Trump said "God, you're a good looking fellow, aren't you?". The ambassador described Trump as a "people person" who takes people at "face value", explaining that the president judged him on his merits. What is in the UK-US tariff deal? Talks with US over digital services continue, says PM
