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Britain ready to implement US tariff deal on cars and steel, trade minister says

Trade chief Jonathan Reynolds said UK is hopeful for a proclamation from Trump to put the agreement into effect in the coming days

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Jonathan Reynolds, Britain’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade outside 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
Reuters

Britain is ready to implement its side of a tariff deal with the United States and is hopeful for a proclamation from US President Donald Trump to put the agreement into effect in the coming days, trade minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Trump on May 8 agreed to reduce tariffs on UK imports of cars and steel to the US, with Britain agreeing to lower tariffs on beef and ethanol, but implementation of the deal has been delayed.

Reynolds met US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday and discussed the implementation of the deal. Asked on Thursday if there would be an update by the end of the week, Reynolds said he was “very hopeful”.

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“We’re ready to go, and as soon as the president and the White House are ready to go on their side, we’ll implement [our] part of the deal,” Reynolds told reporters.

Reynolds said he would issue a government order known as a statutory instrument to implement the changes to reciprocal tariffs. Officials said that the update on implementation was likely to come early next week.

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One of the details to be ironed out before the deal can be implemented is steel quotas. Reynolds added that he wanted to make sure the tariff reductions applied to every bit of the UK steel industry, as the US finalises quotas that will place supply chain requirements on British steel exports to the United States.
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