(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said he would restart long-stalled negotiations on trade with the UK, as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer heralded a “new economic deal” between the two countries.
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Trump said during a joint press conference with Starmer on Thursday in Washington that a deal could happen “very quickly” to help the UK avoid being swept up in in his oft-threatened tariffs. While neither leader explained what sort of accord they had in mind, Trump said administration officials including Vice President JD Vance had already begun work on it.
“We’re going to have a great trade agreement one way or the other,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’re going to end up with a very good trade agreement for both countries, and we’re working on that as we speak.”
The resumption of trade talks between the US and UK came as Trump heaped praise on Starmer during his first visit to the White House, calling him a “tough negotiator” following a conversation that also covered a potential peace deal in Ukraine. “I’m not sure I like that, but that’s OK,” Trump added to laughs from Starmer.
The reception will come as a relief to the British leader, who had been bracing for potential US tariffs on UK goods which would further hamstring the country’s lackluster economic growth.
That’s a worry now facing the European Union, after Trump seemed to suggest slapping tariffs of 25% on the bloc following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week. Relations with Canada have been similarly prickly, with Trump insisting that delayed tariffs of 25% on goods arriving from the US’s northern neighbor would go ahead on March 4.
Successive British governments have sought a trade deal with the US since the country’s 2016 decision to leave the EU. Reaching an agreement with the world’s largest economy was touted as a key benefit of Brexit in the run-up to the referendum.
Trump promised then-Prime Minister Theresa May a “phenomenal” trade deal during his first term and successive Conservative governments held several rounds of talks. Negotiations stalled over the UK’s unwillingness to lower its agricultural standards and were later suspended by Trump’s Democratic successor, President Joe Biden, as part of a general pull back from free-trade talks.