President Donald Trump announced Thursday the U.S. has reached a trade agreement with the U.K., the first deal since Trump imposed broad tariffs on foreign nations last month.
During a Thursday morning event in the Oval Office, Trump said the deal would be finalized over the coming weeks and would include increased market access for American manufacturers.
“The deal includes billions in dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers,” Trump said.
In exchange, Trump said the U.K. will reduce “non-tariff” barriers that discriminated against American products and fast-track American goods through the approval process.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the deal as historic.
“This is a really fantastic, historic day where we can announce this deal between our two great countries,” he said over speaker phone in the Oval Office.
The president took to Truth Social hours before his official announcement in the Oval Office to reveal a deal had come together.
“The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come. Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement. Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!”
Trump imposed a new 10% tariff on most goods imported from the U.K. as part of the baseline tariffs he set in April. In addition, the 25% tariffs Trump slapped on steel and aluminum imports include the U.K.
In exchange for reducing the tariffs on steel and cars, the U.K. is offering to lower a digital tax it imposes on U.S. tech companies and increase U.S. access to U.K. markets, according to officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. The baseline 10% tariff will likely not be changed by today’s announcement.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during the announcement that the U.K. had worked to identify markets where it imports products from other countries and replace them with American goods. That will give American companies more access without leading to unemployment in the U.K., Lutnick said.
The trade announcement with the U.K. comes as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are set to meet with senior Chinese officials for the first time this weekend in Switzerland to begin trade talks.
President Trump told the Daily Caller that more deals are coming.
“Every country throughout the past 40, 50 has literally ripped off the United States on trade, on military, on protection, on all the different things. We are now making fair deals,” Trump said.
