US/UK Trade deal

Announcements slightly delayed by Trump...I won't be around for it so hope others might keep an eye out on this space.

Just watching it, Starmer, cringe! What a crawler🤬
Don’t know yet what’s so great about the deal, it’s coming in a minute.

Watching now- seems like a lot of buttering each other up. Starmer seems very good at placating Trump's ego it's quite entertaining!
Not sure there was much substance there though...

Haven't taken in the details yet but that was sickeningly sycophantic behaviour by Starmer and comparing their 'achievement' to VE day is absurd.

Trump’s propensity to talk garbage about important topics hasn’t diminished. I’ve had to mute him.

Well, Brexit was dependent on a trade deal with America so I would hope those who voted leave will welcome this deal. Maybe pandering to Trumps ego is the only way to deal with him? We’ve got to trade with someone given that we’ve lost our closest and biggest market.

MayBee70 last time I food shopped (this afternoon) there was an abundance of fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, charcuterie along with wine, spirits and beer all from EU countries.

Car show rooms are full of EU brand cars.

A fair percentage of our electricity comes from EU countries.

The U.K. trades with EU countries daily…

Have been in mainland Europe end of April, no shortage of U.K. goods.

GrannyGravy13

MayBee70 last time I food shopped (this afternoon) there was an abundance of fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, charcuterie along with wine, spirits and beer all from EU countries.

Car show rooms are full of EU brand cars.

A fair percentage of our electricity comes from EU countries.

The U.K. trades with EU countries daily…

Have been in mainland Europe end of April, no shortage of U.K. goods.

Those are imports from the EU, GG13. I think MayBee was talking about exports to the EU

That should be sorted this month - hopefully. 🤞

Last line of my post?

We have family in three EU countries, they are able to buy U.K. goods.

The U.K. definitely exports to the EU

GrannyGravy13

Last line of my post?

We have family in three EU countries, they are able to buy U.K. goods.

The U.K. definitely exports to the EU

😄 I would certainly hope do, ‘cause if we didn’t we’d be completely b…….d

Whitewavemark2

GrannyGravy13

Last line of my post?

We have family in three EU countries, they are able to buy U.K. goods.

The U.K. definitely exports to the EU

😄 I would certainly hope do, ‘cause if we didn’t we’d be completely b…….d

Exactly 👍

GrannyGravy13

MayBee70 last time I food shopped (this afternoon) there was an abundance of fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, charcuterie along with wine, spirits and beer all from EU countries.

Car show rooms are full of EU brand cars.

A fair percentage of our electricity comes from EU countries.

The U.K. trades with EU countries daily…

Have been in mainland Europe end of April, no shortage of U.K. goods.

That is not the case GG13. Here in Normandy it is incredibly hard to find the variety of food from the UK we took for granted before Brexit. Our local shopkeepers tell us how difficult it is for them to source. The salmon industry seems to survive, but cheese is very hard to find.

Mamie I haven’t been to France recently, my relatives are not in France.

I can only go on what I have seen and what my relatives have told me

But it’s always been difficult to get English cheeses in France, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Germany for as long as I’ve been travelling to Europe.
We always took our English cheese with us to gîtes we stayed in because some of the party, didn’t like European cheeses and apart from the occasional cheddar, English cheese was rare.
For the other things, we’ve had no problems so far, but maybe it’ll be different when we’re on the continent this year.

Well it was as RR described, a modest trade deal, but its reported that on the whole business and unions are positive.

US imposed car export tariffs will reduce from 27.5% to 10%. This applies to a quota of 100,000 UK cars, which is almost the total the UK exported last year.

The 25% steel tariffs is now down to zero

The US will have preferential access to high-quality UK aerospace components

For agriculture, there will be "reciprocal market access" on beef which means that UK farmers will be given a quota for 13,000 metric tonnes of beef to be exported to the US, and the US granted the same, However all products have to meet UK food standards

A tariff on US ethanol entering the UK has been removed

The creation of a secure supply chain for pharmaceutical products but this involves no compromise with NHS principles/practice as some feared

Rest to remain 10%, further discussions underway as to for example the film industry (surprisingly more important than one might think as many US films have UK involvement).

So for me its a so far so good, well done so far, and as promised does not affect our trading relationships with EU.

As exports to the EU from the UK have reduced significantly since Brexit, I’m sure what Mamie says is correct, because less smaller businesses export there now due to the bureaucracy of the process. Delicatessen type items like cheese are bound to have been affected.

Trade with the EU
According to the ONS, UK exports to the EU have fallen by approximately 15% since Brexit, while imports from the EU have decreased by around 18%. This decline is attributed to the increased complexity and cost of trading with the EU under the new arrangements.18 Mar 2025
commerce.newable.co.uk
Brexit has cost the UK up to 30% of International Trade

Let's hope we can work on this next. Reduce this complexity (which has always been an aim in the manifesto)

It is a trade deal, but nothing special and dealing just with the easy bits where our trade with the US does not threaten their manu facturing. We spend billions on Boing planes - the US allows Rolls Royce aero spares in and so on.

As the BBC reports Though hailed by leaders in the two countries as significant, analysts said it did not appear to meaningfully alter the terms of trade between the countries, as they stood before the changes introduced by Trump this year.

M0nica

It is a trade deal, but nothing special and dealing just with the easy bits where our trade with the US does not threaten their manu facturing. We spend billions on Boing planes - the US allows Rolls Royce aero spares in and so on.

As the BBC reports ^Though hailed by leaders in the two countries as significant, analysts said it did not appear to meaningfully alter the terms of trade between the countries, as they stood before the changes introduced by Trump this year.^

It’s just better than the USA tariffs now imposed on all other countries except Russia.
I wonder what the USA has gained if they agree similar deals with other countries too - what will be the point of all the posturing?

Casdon - either it gives Trump a chance to save face with all the fuss and fanfare he's had af a trade deal

or he will use the opportunity to attack, say, the EU, by not doing deals?

I don’t know Wyllow3 - if they have to go through the same process with all the countries they have imposed tariffs on, it will take forever, and probably, as M0nica pointed out with the UK, end up pretty much where they were in the first place - what a huge waste of effort for no gain either for the USA or the countries they negotiate with. It’s just one almighty mess, although at least for the UK it’s now less of one than for everybody else.

The real sticky industries, food, pharmaceuticals are nto included in this deal. This deal is just in sectors where we are big importers of American goods (planes) or our industries are too small to be a threat (steel).

Yes, it is a colossal waste of time and effort and Starmer is politic in playing it up, keeping Trump sweet on small things will make it easier to stand up to him in areas where it matters.