Donald Trump is expected to announce the framework of a trade agreement with the UK, according to two people familiar with the matter, after teasing a major announcement with a “big and highly respected, country.”
The specifics of any agreement were not immediately clear and there was no comment from the White House or the British embassy in Washington on whether an actual deal had been reached or if the framework would need further negotiation. Any agreement would mark the first such deal for the administration since it imposed sweeping tariffs against trade partners last month.
In a post on Truth Social previewing the announcement, Trump was vague and did not disclose the country or the terms.
“Big news conference tomorrow morning at 10:00am, the Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
There was uncertainty about what exactly Trump would announce from the Oval Office, at the event scheduled for 10am ET (3pm BST), given the president does not have unilateral authority to enter into trade agreements and needs to secure approval from Congress.
The US has been in talks with the UK for weeks as both sides sought to reach a quick deal, discussing lowering British tariffs on US cars and farm products, as well as lowering British taxes on US technology companies, the person said.
Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, has ruled out reducing food production standards to enable more trade of US agricultural products, as officials prioritise signing a separate agreement with the EU, which is likely to align British standards with European ones.
A team of senior British trade negotiators landed in Washington on Wednesday as talks over a deal between the two countries gathered pace.
Officials from the UK business and trade department were attempting to get an agreement signed before a planned UK-EU summit on 19 May.
UK officials have previously said they were targeting tariff relief on a narrow range of sectors in order to get a deal agreed before they begin formal negotiations with the EU over a separate European agreement.
A draft deal handed to the US a week ago would have reduced tariffs on British exports of steel, aluminium and cars, in return for a lower rate of the digital services tax, which is paid by a handful of large US technology companies.
Timothy Brightbill, an international trade attorney at Wiley Rein, told the New York Times that the announcement would probably be “just an agreement to start the negotiations, identifying a framework of issues to be discussed in the coming months.”
The Trump administration had imposed bruising tariffs on a number of trading partners on 2 April – on what the president dubbed “Liberation Day” – before partially reversing course after a sharp downturn in the US equity and, later, the bond markets.
The UK was not hit with reciprocal tariffs because the US has a trade surplus, where it sells more to the UK than it buys. But the UK has been affected, like every other country, by the 10% global tariff and the 25% tariff on foreign steel, aluminium and automobiles.
The Guardian has previously reported that Trump’s recent announcement that he intended to place tariffs on the film industry, a proclamation the White House later partly walked back, had proved a significant setback in trade talks.
