The UK and US are expected to announce a trade deal today, after President Donald Trump teased an upcoming announcement of what he said was a “major trade deal”.
Posting on Truth Social on Wednesday night, Trump said the deal was with a “big, and highly respected country” but did not specify which country it was.
People familiar with negotiations told The New York Times that a deal had been struck with the UK after officials, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, went to Washington, D.C. for negotiations.
“Big News Conference tomorrow at 10:00 A.M.,” Trump wrote. “The Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!”
Trump’s White House trade adviser Peter Navarro pledged last month that the administration would reach trade deals with “90 countries in 90 days.” Experts said there was “no way” he could achieve that mark.
Trump told Time magazine in a recent interview that he had already struck “200” trade deals. But he told moderator Bill O’Reilly in a phone-in town hall last week that the country had potential trade deals when asked about rumoured agreements with India, Japan and India.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, told the House this week that the U.S. was currently in trade negotiations with 17 of the 18 “very important trading relationships.”
It was reported earlier Wednesday that the UK was days away from securing a trade deal with the U.S. which would lessen the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
The UK has been in talks with the Trump administration as part of an attempt to agree on a carve-out from tariffs, which are wreaking havoc on the global economy.
Officials told the Financial Times that the trade deal could be agreed on in the next few days as U.K. officials arrived in Washington, D.C. this week.
The deal could include quotas that would exempt a certain number of U.K. exports from the full impact of 25 percent tariffs on the British car and steel industry.
Whatever the announcement Thursday, Trump will likely want to keep some of his tariffs in place. The president believes the import taxes can generate massive revenues for a heavily indebted federal government even though other countries see the whole point of striking a deal as getting rid of tariffs.
“They’re a beautiful thing for us,” Trump said recently about tariffs. “If you can use them, if you can get away with using them, it’s going to make us very rich. And we’ll be paying off debt, we’ll be lowering your taxes very substantially because so much money will be taken in that we’ll be able to lower your taxes even beyond the tax cut that you’re going to be getting.”
Though Trump has said that countries hit by tariffs pay them, it’s actually U.S. importers that pay the levies, and typically pass some if not all of the extra costs onto their American consumers in the form of higher prices.
Associated Press contributed to this story.
