The UK and US have agreed a “breakthrough” trade deal that will slash some of Donald Trump’s tariffs on cars, aluminium and steel and which the prime minister said would save thousands of British jobs.
Keir Starmer said it was a “fantastic, historic day” as he announced the agreement, the first by the White House since Trump announced sweeping global tariffs last month.
Starmer, speaking to workers at the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Solihull, said the agreement had saved jobs in the car and steel industries that had been under threat.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said the deal “takes us back from the brink and many workers will breathe easier as a result”.
However critics said it had failed to address many of the high tariffs that remain in place between the two countries.
John Denton, secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce, said: “The reality is that US tariffs on UK exports remain significantly higher than they were at the start of the year.” He said it was still unclear what would happen to industries not explicitly covered by the deal, such as pharmaceuticals.
The US agreed to cut the 25% tariff rate on British steel and aluminium exports to zero. The concession will be seen as a lifeline to the steel industry, for which the US is an important export market and which has been on the verge of collapse.
American tariffs on up to 100,000 British cars will also be reduced to 10%, down from the 27.5% rate Trump initially announced. The US is the main export market for British cars, worth more than £9bn last year.
Washington promised to give “preferential treatment” to the UK’s pharmaceutical industry, which Trump has also threatened with tariffs, although none have been set yet, and American aerospace manufacturers will receive preferential access to high-quality UK aerospace components. A 10% baseline tariff on most goods remains in place.
There was relief, too, that British beef farmers will be allowed access to the US market, joining a small group of countries including Australia, while US farmers will be granted new access to the UK.
Starmer said there would be no watering down of food standards with this measure, with imports of hormone-treated beef or chlorinated chicken remaining illegal.
“I know people along the way were urging me to walk away, to descend in a different kind of relationship. We didn’t,” the prime minister said. “We did the hard yards. We stayed in the room. I’m really pleased to say to the workforce here and through them to the country, how important I think this deal is.”
But he added it was “jobs won, not jobs done” and the UK would keep negotiating in areas including tech, where ministers want to improve cooperation with the US, and the film industry, which Trump has also threatened with tariffs.
Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to the US, said a “technology partnership” would be negotiated “over the coming months”. JD Vance, the US vice-president, is expected to play a key role.
The announcement was made in a choreographed phone call between Starmer and Trump, while the press gathered with the leaders on either end of the line.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, criticised the deal, claiming that the UK has been “shafted” by Trump. “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!” However Andrew Griffith, the shadow trade secretary, said the reduction in tariffs would “be welcomed by exporting businesses”.
The final stages of negotiations were mired in chaos after UK officials scrambled to announce the deal when it became clear that Trump was ready to finalise it on Wednesday night. Industry figures were informed of it only in the early hours of Thursday.
Starmer said he had “not at all” been bounced into the deal but “didn’t know the exact day” it would be completed. “I wouldn’t be having my phone call with President Trump halfway through the second half of the Arsenal v PSG game had I planned it better. That’s the way it turned out and that’s the discussion we were having late last night about how we proceeded with this deal,” he said.
UK government officials said the deal was a starting point from which the two sides would keep negotiating. Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, told reporters that the UK would continue trying to reduce the 10% baseline tariff. He said the agreement did not include any concessions on the digital services tax, online safety laws, or the NHS.
The UK is the first country to strike an agreement with Trump since his announcement of global tariffs on what he called “liberation day”. That sent global stock markets plunging for days until Trump brought in a 90-day pause, which will expire in July.
The US has been under pressure to strike tariff agreements to shore up its economy. For months, as economists warned Trump’s trade strategy risked triggering a recession, the president and his closest officials insisted it would set the stage for the White House to hammer out dozens of trade deals.
US officials are in talks with other leading economies, including India and Japan, but agreements have yet to materialise. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said this week that talks were under way with 17 countries.
In Westminster, the Liberal Democrats called for a vote on the agreement, saying it would show “complete disrespect to the public” if MPs were denied a say, especially with talks continuing and the potential for more details to emerge around contentious issues such as food safety.
The US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, told reporters she hoped to expand the agreement to include all meats and that she would be visiting the UK next week to make this point, adding: “There is no industry that has been treated more unfairly than our agriculture industry.”
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said he welcomed reciprocal access to the US beef market, but was concerned imported American beef would be produced to a lower standard.
