New UK-US trade deal is a relief for Starmer but doubts, and tariffs, remain
Thursday’s trade agreement between the US and the UK fell far short of the superlatives heaped on it in Donald Trump’s excruciating televised phone call with Keir Starmer,But it is worth having, nevertheless,As Starmer made clear by appearing in front of an audience of Jaguar Land Rover workers in Solihull, reducing the 27,5% tariff on 100,000 car exports will come as a mighty relief for that industry,Steel and aluminium tariffs will also go completely, according to the UK side – though the fact sheet from the White House stopped short of saying that explicitly, instead saying a “new trading union” would be created in these two sectors.
The 10% across-the-board tariff on all exports remains, but Trump appeared to suggest that will be the case for all countries – so UK goods will not be at any competitive disadvantage.In exchange, the concessions from the British side appeared relatively modest: opening up the market for US agricultural goods, including beef – though only, crucially, if it meets UK food standards – and slashing tariffs on imports of US ethanol.That should prevent Thursday’s agreement cutting across Labour’s hopes for a closer relationship with the EU.Given Trump’s fixation on Beijing, the US also appeared to have been reassured by the fact that the UK has taken control of the Scunthorpe steelworks from its Chinese owners.There was no cut in the digital services tax, which mainly hits US tech firms and had been widely touted as a potential offer to the White House.
So the UK appears to have achieved its key negotiating aims with few big concessions.In other words, it is in a better position than last week.But zoom out, and it is clear that with 10% tariffs remaining on all exports to the US, the UK still faces significantly higher trade barriers than before Trump swept to power, determined to tear up the system.In effect, the president has stolen everyone’s lunch money – and is now exacting concessions in exchange for giving a portion of it back.While key UK sectors will be relieved, the wider economy is unlikely to experience much of a bounce.
Coincidentally, the Bank of England published its quarterly growth forecasts on Thursday lunchtime, as it announced an interest rate cut to shore up the flagging economy,Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionThe Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, welcomed the prospect of a trade deal; its rate-setting monetary policy committee predicted that Trump’s trade policies would shave a fairly modest 0,3% off GDP over the next three years,Most of that, it expects, will result from the general slowdown in global growth as a result of the trade war and policy uncertainty, rather than from the direct tariffs on the UK,In other words, lifting tariffs for the UK, as Trump has now promised to do, is likely to have limited direct upside.
The agreement may help to underpin the fragile economy, however, by alleviating some of the uncertainty identified by the Bank as a dampener on consumer and business confidence,It sends a wider signal to the US’s other key trading partners, too, that some of the madder aspects of Trump’s trade policy may be negotiable, if the right degree of flattery is applied,
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Your Guardian Sport weekend: WSL finale, Lions stars on show and El Clásico
Join Rob Smyth setting up all Saturday’s action, with latest news and buildup from around the grounds. Before Everton travel to Fulham, our Merseyside football correspondent Andy Hunter considers the Everton players out of contract at the end of the season. Our WSL expert Suzanne Wrack will be on hand to guide you through all that’s at stake in Saturday’s final round – email her your questions at matchday.live@theguardian.com
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It’s not often that two sets of people find themselves in the same situation on either side of one of the world’s most fractious borders.When Friday dawned, amid swirling rumours of missiles wrecking neighbourhoods and falsehoods about pilots being captured, cricketers in India and Pakistan sensed that something was about to give.The Pakistan Super League acted first, telling all its players, coaches and officials to stay in their hotel rooms, bags packed at the ready. At some point in the day the call would come, they were told, and they should be ready to head to the airport and fly to the United Arab Emirates where the last eight games of that tournament could be held.In India, the first signs of just how precarious the situation had become emerged the previous evening when a match between the Delhi Capitals and the Punjab Kings was interrupted after 10
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With just 10 runners in total lining up for the two Classic trials at Lingfield on Saturday, the Victoria Cup at Ascot is certainly to attract to the lion’s share of the day’s betting turnover and Gleneagle Bay (2.40) is an interesting runner for Stephen Thorne’s County Dublin stable with Hollie Doyle booked to ride.Gleneagle Bay is lightly raced for a five-year-old, with just six starts in the book thus far, but has already been touched off in two valuable big-field handicaps in Ireland and made a very promising return to action at the Curragh in March. He travelled well until a furlong out before lack of a recent run started to tell, and the drop back to a stiff seven furlongs with Doyle doing the steering could be ideal.Lingfield 1
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