The discussion did not result in a concrete deal, but highlighted its eventual nature. The agreement will focus on the agriculture, technology, and manufacturing industries, cutting tariffs from 27.5% to 10% on 100,000 British car exports every year and removing them for British steel and aluminium exports. 

Trump called the agreement “an incredible platform for the future,” which will “fast track” US imports to the UK. Speaking from a Jaguar Land Rover factory in the West Midlands, Keir Starmer framed the deal as a way to increase growth domestically, “protect British businesses and save thousands of jobs In Britain, really important, skilled, well paid jobs.”

While the UK was spared the worst of the Liberation Day tariffs, and is only subject to the 10% base rate, British industries have already taken a hit. Three days after the tariffs were announced, Jaguar Land Rover said it would stop shipping its cars to the US as the then-25% tariff the US imposed on car imports made its operations no longer profitable. 62% of UK firms with trade exposure to the US are reporting some degree of negative impact, according to a poll by the British Chambers of Commerce.

The US is the UK’s biggest trading partner for both imports and exports, only surpassed by the EU; the two countries have for years enjoyed a “special relationship” which extended to trade, especially after the UK left the EU and strengthened its ties with countries across the Atlantic.

Since Liberation Day, countries have been as much scrambling to make deals with each other as with the US; recent deals between South Korea, Japan, and China, for example, show how far US tariffs have gone in strengthening regional collaboration that would have been unthinkable before.

The purported aim of the Liberation Day tariffs – which the Trump administration maintained were “reciprocal” tariffs, meant to mirror the official and unofficial trade barriers imposed on US goods by individual countries – is to bring governments to the negotiating table and ensure more favourable conditions for US exports. 

While many countries are reluctant to strike a deal with the US, which some see as appeasement, some may find it necessary to avoid a major recession. Two major elections, Canada and Australia, have been recently won in upsets by incumbents that opposed the tariffs and vowed to make domestic economies more independent from the US. In the press conference announcing the agreement, Trump said he is close to several deals, including one with the EU. 

However, this deal shows that sometimes collaboration can be mutually beneficial – especially for economies as tied as the US and UK’s are. While the exact details of the deal are yet to be announced, and the 10% baseline rate on all imports – which many had hoped would be removed – still stands, yesterday’s announcement is a first glimpse into what a post-tariff deal might look like: tentative and incomplete, but with important provisions that could slowly put global trade back on track.