Starmer says UK-US trade deal a 'fantastic, historic day'
The agreement lifts tariffs on UK steel and aluminium products and slashes levies on British car exports from 27.5 percent to 10 percent, Downing Street said.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer / Wikimedia Commons: Number 10
LONDON - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday it was a "really fantastic, historic day," after he agreed a US-UK trade deal with President Donald Trump.
The agreement lifts tariffs on UK steel and aluminium products and slashes levies on British car exports from 27.5 percent to 10 percent, Downing Street said.
"This is a really fantastic, historic day," Starmer said, appearing by video link to join Trump in the White House during simultaneous news conferences in Britain and Washington.
"It's going to not only protect jobs, but create jobs, opening market access," Starmer added, paying "tribute" to both negotiating teams.
The UK government said in a statement that the cut in car tariffs would save Jaguar Land Rover "hundreds of millions" of pounds a year.
The reduction will apply to a quota of 100,000 UK cars, almost the total Britain exported last year, the government added.
"That is a huge and important reduction," Starmer said during a visit to a Jaguar Land Rover factory in the central Midlands area of England.
The deal also includes new reciprocal market access on beef, with UK farmers given a tariff free quota for 13,000 metric tonnes, the British government said.
It added that the agreement does not dilute British food standards. The UK government has repeatedly said it would not allow chlorinated US chicken into the country.
The deal also does not see the UK government make any changes to the digital services tax paid by US tech giants.
Britain is still subject to 10 percent tariffs on most goods as part of the so-called "reciprocal" basic rate imposed on countries by Trump in early April.
There are some exemptions, such as on pharmaceuticals,
No. 10 said its negotiators would continue to work to see the remaining tariffs lifted and ensure it is exempt from any future levies on pharmaceuticals.
The UK government said Britain would get "preferential treatment" in any further tariffs announced by Trump.
"This is just the start," Starmer told reporters.
"We're more ambitious for what the UK and the US can do together," he added.
Britain and the US have been negotiating the deal for several weeks.
Starmer said he learnt that Trump had given it his approval when he called him on Wednesday night as he watched Arsenal's loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.