Latest news with #USUK
Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Times
How much will Chagos deal cost?
Politicians usually like big numbers. But when Sir Keir Starmer announced his deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, he chose to use a different approach. The prime minister said that the cost of the deal to lease back Diego Garcia, the home of a US-UK naval base, was £3.4 billion. But the Tories had a very different figure, and put the cost at closer to £30 billion. Who is right? The answer is that both. Given the political furore surrounding the deal the prime minister had a clear vested interest in putting out a smaller figure. The optics of Chagos are difficult. Britain is essentially paying to lease back something it previously owned. It is paying money while giving something
Forbes
12-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
‘Turning The Economic Clock Back' To Early 1900s: ICC Director Reacts To U.K. And China Trade Deals
Andrew Wilson, Deputy Secretary-General and Global Policy Director at the International Chamber of Commerce, joined Brittany Lewis on "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the framework for the trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K., as well as the temporary agreement between the U.S. and China to majorly roll back tariffs. Watch the full interview above.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's first trade ‘deal' doesn't bode well for the rest of the world
A version of this story appeared in CNN Business' Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. OK, so! After a month of negotiations, we finally have a 'full and comprehensive' trade agreement with our old pals across the pond. Huge news! What a relief, right? Pop the champagne, the trade war nightmare is almost over… What's that? What's in it, you ask? Like, what is the 'deal' part of the deal? OK, so it's more of a concept of a deal. If a trade deal is, like, Michelangelo's David, this is more like a block of marble. Or really it's like a receipt from the marble guy that says we've placed an order for a block of marble. Maybe put the champagne back in the fridge. Here is what the US and the UK announced Thursday: President Donald Trump's team took the US tax on British imports from 10% to *checks notes* 10%. Yes, it is the exact same tariff rate that Trump announced on April 2, but with some fun new carve-outs: British cars: That Bentley you've had your eye on was going to be taxed at 27.5%, but now it's only 10%. Great news for that sliver of Americans in the market for a Land Rover, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce or Aston Martin. No other consumer goods were mentioned. Planes: British companies can now send plane parts to the US tariff-free. In return, British Airways is expected to order 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, according to Bloomberg. Steel and aluminum: Taxes on steel and what the Brits call 'aluminium' (adorable) will be scrapped. Beef: Both countries get a bunch of tariff-free exports on commodities including beef and other agricultural products. That's honestly it — there are no more details, as both sides said specifics are still being ironed out. It's not all that surprising, given that traditionally trade deals require months or even years of painstaking talks. 'A trade agreement where the details are still being negotiated is not an agreement,' said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, on social media. 'This does not provide the clarity necessary to lift the fog of uncertainty created by a trade war of choice.' To hear the White House announce it on Thursday, though, you'd think they just won a Nobel prize and a gold medal. In a Truth Social post, Trump said it was 'a very big and exciting day.' UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it 'historic' with what sounded like a straight face, though it should be noted he joined the Oval Office event via speakerphone, because the Trump administration cobbled this whole spectacle together at the last minute. (The British ambassador to the US even said that Trump called Starmer in a 'very typical, 11th-hour intervention.') The Brits, for their part, said even an imperfect deal is better than no deal at all. Asked by reporters in England whether this deal marks an improvement on the US-UK relationship of six months ago, before Trump took office, Starmer replied: 'The question you should be asking is: Is it better than where we were yesterday?' Which is a gentle British way of saying: Look, we're all doing our little dances in the Trump show to avoid tempting the wrath of the leader of the world's biggest economy. Wall Street, similarly, isn't letting perfection be the enemy of the good. Stocks rallied in the US as investors – hungry for any sign Trump is going to relent on the trade war – embraced the White House's optimism. Just for kicks, let's say this is an actual framework for a real trade deal that will get hammered out over the next few weeks. That is better than nothing. But it took more than a month to roll out this titanic nothingburger with one of our closest allies. An ally that, with all due affection to our British brethren, accounts for just 3% of all US trade, Justin Wolfers, professor of economics at the University of Michigan, told CNN. That doesn't bode well for the thousands of American businesses that are currently paralyzed by Trump's 145% tariffs on most imports from China, an adversary that's not so charmed by the president's 11th-hour shenanigans and is America's third-largest trading partner. US and Chinese envoys are set to meet this weekend in Geneva. But American officials aren't even suggesting a trade deal will come out of it – the best that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he's hoping for is 'de-escalation.' Bottom line: Very little has changed about the state of the global economy since the US-UK 'deal' was announced. We still have a 22% effective tariff rate today – the highest in more than 100 years – compared with 2.5% before Trump took office. 'Overwhelmingly the most important fact about today's trade deal is that the 10% across the board tariffs are staying,' Wolfers said on social media Thursday. 'Tiny tweaks here and there with some trading partners won't change that. The US is a high tariff country for the foreseeable future, and the trade war continues.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘You better go out and buy stock now,' Trump said. Markets listened
Stock indexes closed higher on Thursday after the outlines of a U.S.-U.K. trade deal that lowers tariffs became clear, giving investors hope that more deals can be reached and a recession avoided. Stock markets surged on Thursday after the White House shared the outlines of a trade deal with the United Kingdom. The first such deal after President Donald Trump pressed pause on reciprocal tariffs with the world a month ago, it gave Wall Street hope that the U.S. can continue trade negotiations and hopefully avoid a recession. The S&P 500 and the Dow closed up by 0.6%, after surging as high as 1.3% earlier in the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.1%. Bitcoin rose to $101,500, and crude oil prices climbed, while the price of gold fell as investors felt less need for safety. The deal keeps in place a 10% baseline tariff on U.K. imports but cuts duties on cars, steel, and aluminum. In return, the U.K. promised to buy more U.S. beef and ethanol and lower import taxes on 2,500 U.S. products. "A trade agreement—even if it's an agreement in principle—is what the markets were looking to see," Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, said in a note. Trump talked up the deal, which he implied would be the first of many. "You better go out and buy stock now," he told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that the economy "will be like a rocket ship that goes straight up." He also teased the U.S.-China trade negotiations scheduled for this weekend, saying he expects them to be "substantive." Of the tariffs, he said, "right now, you can't get any higher. It's at 145. So we know it's coming down.' Elsewhere, strong earnings reports from a variety of companies helped drive the S&P 500 higher. Tapestry, which owns fashion brands Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, rose 3.7% after reporting better-than-expected sales and profits thanks to pulling in more young customers. Axon Enterprise, the maker of the Taser, gained 14.1% on strong growth and a boosted revenue forecast. Despite falling confidence among consumers and CEOs, the economy has so far proved resilient, with 177,000 jobs added last month just as tariffs were being announced, spending steady and unemployment applications low. However, automakers issued a warning through the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), which represents Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis. In a statement, the council's president noted the U.S. auto industry remains "highly integrated with Canada and Mexico; the same is not true for the U.S. and UK." "We are disappointed that the administration prioritized the UK ahead of our North American partners," said Matt Blunt. "Under this deal, it will now be cheaper to import a UK vehicle with very little U.S. content than a USMCA compliant vehicle from Mexico or Canada that is half American parts." Blunt said that hurts American automakers, suppliers, and auto workers. "We hope this preferential access for UK vehicles over North American ones does not set a precedent for future negotiations with Asian and European competitors," Blunt said. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Britain ‘shafted' by US trade deal, claims Badenoch
Follow the latest on the US-UK trade deal Britain will be left 'shafted' by Sir Keir Starmer's new trade deal with the US, Kemi Badenoch has warned. The Tory leader made the remarks after a phone call between the Prime Minister and Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, confirming an agreement had been reached. During the call, Mr Trump described the UK as 'truly one of our great allies' and insisted it was a good deal for the two nations. But Mrs Badenoch noted that UK tariffs on the US were previously 5.1 per cent and have now been updated to 1.8 per cent, whereas US tariffs on the UK stood at 3.4 per cent and have increased to the universal 10 per cent applied to all countries. She said: 'When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. We cut our tariffs. America tripled theirs. Keir Starmer called this 'historic.' It's not historic, we've just been shafted!' In an interview with ITV, Mrs Badenoch added: 'This is not a free trade agreement, this is not what we were signing. What's happened is a small tariff deal to fix some of the changes which Donald Trump made last month. 'Calling it a historic deal is trying to sell people a pup... We are now in a worse position than we were in March.' Deal possible after Brexit Speaking in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said the deal was only possible because of Brexit. He said: 'This was separate because of Brexit in particular. It always seemed so natural. This deal just fell into place. The Prime Minister did a fantastic job. 'His representatives are total professionals, and they got along well, and it just seemed to work.' In a press conference at a Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plant, Sir Keir said. 'We are the first country to secure such a deal with the United States and in an era with global insecurity and instability that is so important.' He added: 'Our history shows what we can achieve when we work together and what timing for this deal, that we've agreed this deal on VE Day. 'Eighty years ago, Churchill was addressing the nation at the end of the Second World War, victory in Europe, and we were standing with the United States as the United Kingdom on defence and security... And today we've added to that the economy and trade in the special relationship. 'So it's particularly fitting that today we renew the bond on the 80th anniversary on VE Day.'
