UK Pauses Push to End US Steel Tariffs Before Trump Visit
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The U.K. has quietly shelved talks with the U.S. aimed at eliminating tariffs on British steel, dealing a blow to the industry, which has been waiting months for removal of the 25% levy.
As President Donald Trump heads to the U.K. for a state visit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has punted negotiations on removing U.S. steel tariffs, according to a person familiar with the matter.Ěý
In return, Starmer has accepted commitments from the U.S. administration that tariffs on steel will remain at 25% — less than the 50% slapped on other countries’ exports, but still a level which U.K. companies have said is damaging.
The strategic decision comes even as Trump signaled he was open to some concessions to the U.K. on trade to help ease implementation of their tariff deal as he departed the White House for a trip to London on Sept. 16.
“They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he prepared to leave for a second state visit. “We’ve made a deal, and it’s a great deal, and I’m into helping them.”
Negotiators from the U.K. will continue talks with their U.S. peers to ax steel tariffs over time, the person with knowledge of the government’s thinking said. However, the commitment reached between officials ahead of Trump’s arrival in London will be a disappointment to businesses who had hoped the visit would finalize an earlier agreement promising the removal of tariffs on U.K. steel.
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Under a trade deal hammered out between the two countries in May, Trump pledged the removal of tariffs on steel imports from Britain. But while other elements of the agreement have come into force, the commitment on steel proved problematic.Ěý
At the heart of the disagreement is a U.S. insistence 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 steel producers, can no longer fulfill after closing its last blast furnace last year.
“On 8 May the Prime Minister claimed credit for negotiating steel tariffs to zero. Now it turns out that was untrue and it’s actually 25%,” said Andrew Griffith, business and trade spokesperson for the Conservatives. “Either his maths or his relationship with the truth clearly needs some work.”
The person familiar said the commitment to keep steel tariffs at 25% would provide clarity to the industry and would still make the U.K. competitive given tariffs on other countries’ exports are double the amount.
Trump’s visit comes at an awkward time for Starmer, with the president touching down just days after the prime minister was forced to sack U.S. ambassador Peter Mandelson following a Bloomberg investigation into Mandelson’s relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Trump is also facing scrutiny over his own relationship with the disgraced billionaire.
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U.S. officials briefing reporters about the trip earlier this week on the condition of anonymity declined to say if they expected progress on the metals tariffs, while indicating they were unlikely to see an announcement on a push by Starmer to lower levies on Scotch whisky.
“Our country is doing very well. We’ve never done this well,” Trump said Sept. 16. “We’re having trillions of dollars coming because of the tariffs, and they’d like to see if they could get a little bit better deal.”Ěý
The Financial Times, which first reported Starmer’s decision to pause pushing for additional metals concessions, also reported that the U.S. and U.K. were set to announce closer cooperation on digital assets including cryptocurrencies.
The pact was negotiated during talks Sept. 16 between Chancellor Rachel Reeves and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, people familiar with the matter told the paper.
In addition to the discussions on trade, Trump during his state visit is also expected to announce more than $10 billion in new economic deals, as well as other efforts to align the nations’ financial sectors.
The visit will include a science and technology partnership that is expected to include billions of dollars in new investment, according to U.S. officials. The president and prime minister will attend a business roundtable on Sept. 18 that will feature many top U.S. tech leaders, including Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang and OpenAI Inc.’s Sam Altman.
Lucy White, Josh Wingrove and Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.
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