Donald Trump hailed Britain’s ability to sign it own trade deal with the US today, nine years after predecessor Barack Obama said that leaving the EU would put Britain at the ‘back of the queue’.
Trump addressed reporters in the Oval Office today after an agreement that saves some UK firms from his punitive protectionist tariffs that are damaging world trade.
In one of his trademark rambling answers to questions he said the European Union treated the US ‘extremely unfairly’, and claimed the trade deal between the US and UK was possible ‘because of Brexit‘.
‘This was separate because of Brexit in particular,’ he said of the deal.
‘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.’
During a state visit to the UK in April 2016, just two months before the referendum, Mr Obama triggered outrage among Leave supporters when he claimed quitting the EU would put Britain ‘at the back of the queue’ for a US trade deal.
Under the new package the impact will be eased with a quota of 100,000 cars a year that will be charged at a lower rate of 10 per cent. That will roughly cover the UK’s annual exports.
They spoke out ahead of an announcement Donald Trump is expected to make at the White House this afternoon that would ease his protectionist tariffs.
Speaking to the Prime Minister from the White House, the US president said the agreement was a ‘great deal for both countries’.
The 25 per cent tariffs on steel exports to the US will be reduced to zero and there will be reciprocal access to markets for beef, but the UK government insisted food standards will not be compromised;
Britain is also hoping to head off the prospect of an assault on the pharma sector – with tens of thousands of jobs thought to be at stake.
Number 10 had been expecting the announcement of a deal, but the timing of Mr Trump’s post came as a surprise, given Sir Keir was due to focus on VE Day commemorations on Thursday.
Speaking to the Prime Minister from the White House, the US president said the agreement was a ‘great deal for both countries’.
Mr Trump said the ‘final details’ of the agreement were still being ‘written up’, adding: ‘The actual deal is a very conclusive one we think, just about everything has been approved.’
Previous governments have also attempted to secure a free trade agreement with the US, but with no success.
Mr Trump said: ‘The US and UK have been working for years to try and make a deal and it never quite got there.
‘It did with this Prime Minister, so I want to just congratulate you.’
Sir Keir said: ‘With this president and this Prime Minister we’ve managed to achieve what many people tried to achieve for many years, and I’m really pleased.’
The US president had previously described the deal as ‘full and comprehensive’, but Thursday’s announcement focused on a narrower set of industries.
Steel union Community’s assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said the deal would protect jobs in the industry.
He said: ‘The UK Government deserves enormous credit for negotiating this deal to reduce US tariffs which would have had a hugely damaging impact on our steel sector.’
In exchange, the UK has reduced tariffs on US products including beef and ethanol, which US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said would create five billion dollars in ‘opportunity for American exports’.
The agreement on beef provides a tariff-free quota for 13,000 tonnes of US exports, but the UK Government said this would involve no reduction in food standards.
Mr Lutnick added that British-made Rolls-Royce engines would be excluded from tariffs, with a UK airline agreeing to buy ’10 billion worth of Boeing planes later today’.
Mr Trump said the UK would also be brought into ‘economic security alignment’ with the US as a result of the deal.
Number 10 said work would continue on pharmaceuticals and remaining tariffs, but the US had promised to give the UK preferential treatment if any further tariffs were imposed.
Lord Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador in Washington, said the deal was ‘not the end, it’s just the end of the beginning’.
Speaking in the Oval Office, he said: ‘There is yet more we can do in reducing tariffs and trade barriers so as to open up our markets to each other, even more than we are agreeing to do today.’
Previous speculation had suggested the UK would revise the digital services tax as part of a deal, with the levy mainly applying to US tech companies.
But Number 10 said on Thursday the tax would remain unchanged, with the two countries agreeing to work on a separate digital trade deal that would reduce paperwork for British firms exporting to the US.
Ministers are expected to update MPs on the talks with the US with a statement in the Commons later.
The deal with the UK is the first agreement since Mr Trump announced the ‘liberation day’ tariffs on countries around the world.
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