British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised on Thursday “a historic day” after the announcement by his American counterpart Donald Trump of a trade agreement to reduce the customs duties imposed by the United States on certain British products.
“It is a really fantastic and historical day,” said the Briton about this announcement, which he connected to that of the announcement of victory in Europe, exactly 80 years ago, “by Winston Churchill.
The agreement, negotiated for several weeks, provides that customs duties on British cars, brought to 27.5 by Donald Trump’s customs surcharges, return to 10%, while those on steel and aluminum fall to zero, according to a government statement.
The reduction on cars “will apply to a quota of 100,000 British cars”, a little less than exports from the sector to the United States last year.
The agreement also provides for “mutual access to the markets” without customs duties for the beef of the two countries, up to a certain quota. The United Kingdom specifies that it does not make any “concession on food standards” with the United States.
-Most British products will however continue to be taxed up to 10%, a level which corresponds to the so -called “reciprocal” tax imposed since early April by Donald Trump.
But “negotiations are continuing,” said the government, in particular in the pharmaceutical sector, for the moment exempt from customs duties, but which is particularly important for the United Kingdom, where two giants in the sector, Astrazeneca and GSK are based.
“The United States has agreed to grant preferential treatment to the United Kingdom in the event of new customs duties,” it said in the press release.
“This is only the beginning,” said Keir Starmer, who says he has maintained himself with his American counterpart on Wednesday evening. “We have bigger ambitions for what the United Kingdom and the United States can accomplish together,” he added.
With AFP
