After Indo UK trade deal, now Trump too strikes trade deal with Britain

President Donald Trump, center, with from l-r., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Vice President JD Vance, and Britain’s ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson

After Modi gave go ahead to Indo UK trade deal, now U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a trade agreement that would increase market access for American farm exports has been reached with Britain, hailing it as a “tremendous” deal.

In return, the Trump administration has agreed to arrangements such as allowing Britain to export 100,000 cars per year into the U.S. market with only a 10 percent tariff, offering a partial exemption from his new 25 percent auto levies.

The annual quota is a boon for Jaguar Land Rover and the United Kingdom as cars are its biggest export to the United States. The amount covers nearly the total it exported to the United States in 2024.

The agreement left in place a 10 percent baseline tariff that Trump imposed in April on almost all countries. But, according to the British government, the United States will remove its additional tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminium.

A White House official, meanwhile, said the two countries have not yet decided on the specifics of a separate alternate agreement on steel and aluminum.

With this deal, the U.K. joined the United States in affirming that reciprocity and fairness is an essential and vital principle of bilateral trade.

The White House said the agreement “sets the tone for other trading partners to promote reciprocal trade with the United States.”

Under the deal, Britain will expand market access for American farm products in particular, such as beef and bioethanol, and reduce nontariff barriers.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the agreement will result in a $5 billion opportunity for new exports by American farmers, ranchers and producers.

The British government said beef market access is a win for both sides, noting that U.K. farmers has been given a tariff-free quota of 13,000 tons.

Still, many details have not been worked out and officials from the two countries need to meet in the coming weeks or perhaps months to finalize the deal’s provisions.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who joined Trump’s announcement via speakerphone, said, “This is going to boost trade between and across our countries. It’s going to not only protect jobs, but create jobs, opening market access.”

The deal with Britain is one of 17 that the Trump administration has been trying to strike with major trading partners since the president hastily backtracked from his steep “reciprocal” tariffs, which sparked a panicked sell-off of U.S. bonds after being unveiled on April 2.

The trading partners include India, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. Trump has paused the country-specific tariffs for 90 days until early July, with the aim of negotiating new bilateral trade deals in the meantime.

Britain’s case may be exceptional as it is one of the few major economies that the United States has a trade surplus with. The Trump administration is imposing only a 10 percent universal levy and no extra country-specific duties on Britain, unlike Japan that is subject to a 24 percent tariff rate, under his reciprocal scheme.

It has become even clearer that Trump does not intend to scrap or grant exemptions from the 10 percent universal tariff, with only the country-specific part of his so-called reciprocal tariffs being negotiable.

For Japan, eliminating the new tariffs for cars and auto parts is especially important. But the Trump administration’s deal with Britain signals that restoring the previous rate of 2.5 percent for imported cars by removing all the new levies may be difficult.