UK Still in Talks With Trump Team Over Steel, Whiskey Levies
US Imposed a 25% Tariff on British Steel and 10% on the Spirit
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The U.K. is still in talks with President Donald Trump’s administration for a deal to address U.S. tariffs on steel and whiskey, according to the British Consul General in Chicago.
The U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on British steel and 10% on the spirit — levies that remain in place despite the U.K. being the first country to reach a trade agreement with Trump. Tariffs are hurting the whiskey industry on both sides of the Atlantic and the U.K isn’t dumping the metal on U.S. shores, said Richard Hyde, who represents British interests in the Midwest region.
“We just need to keep pushing, keep pressing to remove tariffs where we can, whether it be on whiskey, whether it be on steel,” Hyde said on Bloomberg Television on Nov. 3. “We want to see tariffs removed wherever we can remove them, and whiskey is absolutely a priority for us.”
The U.S. is the biggest market for U.K. whiskey and tariffs are costing the industry almost 20 million pounds a month in lost exports, the Scotch Whisky Association said. On the U.S. side, the 10% duty could lead to retail sales losses of more than $300 million, according to an analysis by the Distilled Spirits Council.
DISCUS outlines key foreign trade barriers impacting the U.S. spirits sector in a report to .
Read more: — Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (@DistilledSpirit)
The U.K. produces a very specific type of steel that the American defense industry needs, Hyde said. The U.S. insists that steel must be “melted and poured” in the U.K. to be able to take advantage of the tariff exemptions, a requirement which Tata Steel U.K., one of the country’s largest producers, can no longer fulfill after closing its last blast furnace last year. The U.K. has a lower U.S. tariff on steel than other parts of the world, Hyde said.
Steel Quality
“We produce a particular quality of steel in a relatively small volume, which is needed in the United States,” he said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Chicago office. “So the argument that we would make is that that steel is needed by you, it’s needed by very specific industries like defense. So we are not a threat.”
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The Supreme Court is expected to consider striking down most of the tariffs Trump has imposed since taking office. A ruling against the president on Nov. 5 would undercut his ability to use tariffs as an all-purpose tool to wring concessions out of trading partners and could mean refunds exceeding $100 billion.
As part of its trade deal with the U.S., the U.K. agreed to open its market to American agricultural exports such as beef and corn-based ethanol, offering those concessions in exchange for other trade priorities it wanted to advance, said Hyde.
In September, the U.K. and the U.S. signed the Tech Prosperity Deal to deepen collaboration in key technology areas including AI, quantum computing and nuclear energy. Since then, the U.S. has announced aplanto promote the export of American AI.
“That’s another area where we’re very keen that the U.S. and U.K. partner on whatever that AI stack export program looks like, bringing in U.K. companies into that mix,” said Stephanie Ashmore, the U.K.'s director of science and technology in the Americas, who was in Chicago for the 2025 Quantum Summit.
Paul Dabbar, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce, boasted about the trade deal with the U.K. at the event on Nov. 3. Commenting on potential export controls for quantum technologies, he said: “I think at the end of the day, like a lot of what we see with classical semiconductors, working with allies is very different than working with people who are not our active allies.”
Nuclear Energy
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Hyde will travel to Indiana later this week for an event with Rolls-Royce, which is developing small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs. The Hoosier state is considering how it can use the technology to supply its future energy needs at a time AI is boosting demand.
While a number of US states have moratoriums on nuclear because of issues with waste disposal, many are now reconsidering it as a way to keep energy affordable as demand on grids increase, Hyde said.
“This is a conversation about affordability and reliability of energy supply when demand is growing through data centers,” he said. “Pretty much every governor I speak to is really, really keen to explore SMRs. Royce is one of the technologies coming forward. There are other companies as well.”
Written byMiranda Davis, Michael Hirtzer and Romaine Bostick
