UK-made vehicles imported into the US will be hit with a reduced tariff of 10%, president Donald Trump has announced, but only for the first 100,000 cars exported.
It follows more than a month of negotiations between British and American officials after Trump announced sweeping import tariffs on foreign-made products, including a 25% tariff on new cars.
All tariffs were due to start on 1 April, but a 90-day reprieve was given so that negotiations could take place.
Details on the new deal are currently sparse, but the US confirmed that the 10% tariff - which brings it in line with the levy on other foreign goods – will apply to "100,000 cars", suggesting that anything over that number will be hit by the higher 25% rate. Previously, before Trump's March announcement, the tariff was 2.5%.
Prime minister Keir Starmer said the 10% rate represented "a huge and important reduction" and confirmed that "we have scope now to increase that quota; this is not final".
No details were given on the proposed 25% tariff on car parts, which was due to begin in the coming months.
While details have yet to be fully confirmed, new deals on food, chemicals, machinery and industry have been struck. Tariffs on steel and aluminum have been reduced to 0%.
The UK is the first nation to reach an agreement with the US following president Trump's tariff announcement in March. China will be the next, according to American officials.
Announcing the deal from the White House's , Trump said: "I’m thrilled to announce a breakthrough trade deal. The agreement with one our closest and most cherished allies.
"Final details are being written up and will be detailed in the coming weeks."
He added that the deal gets rid of many unspecified UK tariffs that “unfairly discriminated” against US, saying: “They are opening up their country. Their current is a little closed."
Starmer said: "This is a really fantastic, historic day – a real tribute to the history we have of working together. This [deal] is going to boost trade."
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It's hard to feel sorry for those blue collar Trump supporting US car workers that Trump paraded on his so called Liberation day, but they've been duped. Are they so stupid they'll continue to support him ( they probably are ).
The idea was to create high tariffs so the US auto industry would thrive. Well more the fool them for believing the US were prepared to pay higher prices for their cars. Before Trump and Starmer took office, the import duty on cars from the UK to the US was 10%. After all that's been said and done and world markets going crazy, the import duty is er, 10%.
So what the hell was it all about? For all those who thought voting Trump would rekindle Detroit, think again lads. However I'm sure many of those Trump backers, including Trump himself no doubt, made an extra few dollars for themselves betting on the market turmoil.
Of course I'm sure the workers of GE along with Pratt & Whitney were rubbing their hands at Trumps 'Make America great again' goal. According to the report on 5Live I've just heard, turns out the Tariffs on RR engines built in Derby and shipped to the US is going to be 0%.
It'll be exactly the same with Canada. After all the hullaballoo, nothing will have changed after their deal either. What amazes me is how easily duped voters can be. I wouldn't even credit those blue collar workers who stood alongside Trump on 2nd April with a single brain cell. The phrase "the engine's running but there's nobody behind the wheel" springs to mind.
So 3 quarters of UK car exports to the US will be 15% MORE than what they were 2 months ago. Is that meant to be a good deal.
I see the article has been changed from 400k cars to 104k.