President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled the broad outline of a trade agreement with the United Kingdom.
The deal is the first by the United States with a country whose imports were subject to new tariffs imposed by Trump in early April.
But many specifics about the deal were not immediately clear, and nothing was signed during the Oval Office event.
“The final details are being written up,” Trump said. “In the coming weeks we’ll have it all very conclusive.”
He said that the deal includes “billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports,” and that the UK will “reduce or eliminate numerous non-tariff barriers that unfairly discriminated against American products.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who joined Trump remotely, said, “We’ve built an incredible platform for the future.”
While the event was ongoing, Trump’s Truth Social account posted a screenshot indicating U.S. tariffs on the UK will stay at 10%.
Asked if that baseline tariff is a template for future trade deals, Trump said, “That’s a low number.”
“They made a good deal,” Trump said of the UK. “Some will be much higher because they have massive trade surpluses.”
The chart also shows that UK duties on U.S. goods will shrink to 5.1% to 1.8%. It was unclear Thursday how those figures were tabulated.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in the Oval that she will travel to the UK next week to continue talks over U.S. beef exports.
Trump earlier said on Truth Social that the agreement is “a full and comprehensive one,” adding, “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!”
But 10 Downing Street suggested that negotiations with the U.S. were ongoing.
“Talks on a deal between our countries have been continuing at pace and the Prime Minister will update later today,” a spokesperson for Starmer said in a statement overnight, after The New York Times first reported on the U.S.-UK announcement.
The statement added that Starmer “will always act in Britain’s national interest,” and called the U.S. “an indispensable ally for both our economic and national security.”
Trump imposed a 10% blanket tariff on the UK in early April, as part of a rollout of what he claimed were “reciprocal” import duties on nearly every country on earth.
The UK is also affected by separate U.S. tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum, and foreign-made cars.
Trump quickly backed off the reciprocal plan amid a market rout and mounting criticism. He announced a 90-day “pause” that set an across-the-board 10% tariff rate for all affected nations except China.
Trump claimed he decided on that pause after dozens of countries reached out to negotiate new trade relationships with the U.S.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
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