Keir Starmer landed an important diplomatic victory when Donald Trump finally confirmed the implementation of the UK/US trade deal.
After “shaking hands” on the deal in a virtual meeting broadcast to the world last month, there had been concerns that Sir Keir still had not got the deal with the US in place.
Mr Trump confirmed the deal was “done” at a brief press conference at the G7 summit in Canada after the two met. The deal will now be in place by the end of the month and will mean zero tariffs on aerospace.
However, the aim of getting zero tariffs on steel from the UK is “still work in progress”.
Asked if the UK could be hit by future tariffs, the president said: “The UK is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them. The Prime Minister has done a really good job. He has done what other people have been talking about for six years and he has done it.”
He joked that Starmer was “slightly more liberal than I” but again confirmed their warm regard for each other.
The president actually dropped the document but it was swiftly picked up again by the prime minister.
But the lack of a deal had been particularly problematic for British Steel with Trump imposing 50 per cent tariffs on the rest of the world. While the UK was temporarily kept at 25 per cent the clocking was ticking with the higher tariffs coming in on Wednesday.
However, in a moment of theatre at the G7 summit, the president came out with the prime minister with a message of relief for thousands whose jobs were reliant on the deal being done.
He said: “We signed it, and it’s done”, as he confirmed the UK-US trade deal had been signed.
Mr Trump appeared to mistakenly say he had signed a “trade agreement with the European Union” as he stood alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
He added: “It’s a fair deal for both. It’ll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”
Sir Keir replied: “Donald, thank you very much. This now implements on car tariffs and aerospace. A really important agreement. And so this is a very good day for both of our countries, a real sign of strength.”
Once implemented the deal will reduce those tariffs down to 10 per cent or possibly remove them altogether. Additionally car exporters such as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) have been stuck with 25 per cent tariffs on vehicles into the US market which are also supposed to fall to 10 per cent.
