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A worker prepares to wrap cold drawn stainless steel bars at a factory in Sheffield, England. (Dominic Lipinski/Bloomberg)

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The U.K. is contending with a new five-week deadline to finalize its trade agreement with the U.S. after President Donald Trump spared the country’s steel and aluminum exports from a doubling of existing tariffs.

The U.K. was granted an exemption from a higher 50% levy that took effect overnight while it negotiates the details of a tariff-relief deal announced last month by Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. But the White House proclamation implementing the new rate reserved the option of applying it to British steel and aluminum, if the president decides the U.K. isn’t complying with their agreement.

The result means that Britain still faces the threat of higher tariffs from the country’s closest ally, even as it scrambles to remove an earlier 25% levy as agreed between Trump and Starmer. The U.S.-imposed deadline ramps up the pressure on British trade negotiators, who had spent recent days trying to get the U.S. to commit to a timeline for resolving unfinished aspects of the deal, such as the tariffs.

“We’re pleased that as a result of our agreement with the U.S., U.K. steel will not be subject to these additional tariffs,” the U.K. government said in a statement on June 4. “We will continue to work with the U.S. to implement our agreement, which will see the 25% U.S. tariffs on steel removed.”

As a result of our landmark deal with the US, UK steel won’t be subject to additional tariffs.

My government will always protect British businesses and British jobs. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer)

The longer U.K. steel and aluminum exports are subject to U.S. tariffs the more questions will be raised about Starmer’s decision to become the first country to settle with Trump. The Prime Minister’s Office had promised while announcing the agreement on May 8 that U.S. levies would be reduced to zero on the metals, saying the deal would save an industry that it described as being on the “brink of collapse.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer late June 3 in Paris in an effort to speed up talks. They discussed “implementing agreements on sectoral tariffs as soon as possible” and “agreed that businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic must start to feel the benefits of the deal soon,” according to a statement from Reynolds’s department.

Had a productive and constructive discussion with Ambassador Greer on the margins of the Trade Ministerial.

We're advancing in the right direction at pace - and staying in close contact to maintain the momentum. — Maroš Šefčovič🇪🇺 (@MarosSefcovic)

The U.K. steel industry has warned repeatedly that tariffs on U.S. imports could further imperil the viability of mills already battling against global overcapacity, depressed steel prices and weak demand in many key industrial sectors. The U.K. exports around 200,000 metric tons of steel per year to the U.S., worth over $532 million, according to U.K. Steel.

Under the agreement announced last month, the British government said duties on metals exported to the U.S. would be slashed to zero, and auto tariffs would be reduced to 10%. In return, the U.K. agreed to fast-track U.S. items through their customs process and reduce barriers on “billions of dollars” of agricultural, chemical, energy and industrial exports, including beef and ethanol.

The May deal, however, was contingent on the U.K. satisfying U.S. demands about the ownership of its plants, which appeared aimed at accelerating Starmer’s efforts to take over the Chinese company running the country’s last blast furnaces. Britain took de facto control of British Steel in April to prevent the closure of its two furnaces, but the loss-making company is still owned by Jingye Group.

The new White House proclamation raises the prospect that Starmer may have to speed up the process of finding a private partner or buyer. While the U.K. has said that a nationalization of British Steel remains the most likely outcome in the near-term, Starmer’s government has been reticent to act due to the high cost of taking on its losses of roughly 700,000 pounds a day.

“This morning we do breathe a temporary sigh of relief that we’re only paying the 25% tariff, not the 50% tariff,” U.K. Steel Director General Gareth Stace told the BBC. “But what we really want to get to is those tariffs removed as agreed by the prime minister and president.”