Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
US, UK Announce Trade Deal Framework
The US and UK have announced a trade deal that is not a deal at all. It is, at best, a framework for drafting an agreement some time in the future. The devil will be in the details. The framework requires the UK to buy more US beef and ethanol while streamlining the process by which American products enter the UK. The 10% tariff he has put on British goods persists, but the taxes on steel and aluminum entering the US fall to 0%. Sir Keir Starmer, the British PM, can claim a victory of sorts, and Mr. Trump has only 89 more deals to go if this one counts. It does not.
Mr. Trump is a real estate guy from Jamaica Estates, Queens, New York. To him, a deal is no more than signing a memorandum of understanding. Lawyers will work out the details, and to him, that is just boring paperwork. There is a reason the Trump Organization is so much smaller than firms like the Durst Organization, Tishman Speyer or Silverstein Properties. The boss did not bother with the details.
"In the coming weeks, we'll have it all very conclusive," Mr. Trump said. That means it is not conclusive now.
The Associated Press said "The U.S. already runs a trade surplus with the U.K., making it a bit easier to find common ground at a time when Trump has staked his tariffs on eliminating the annual trade deficits with multiple nations he says have taken advantage of the U.S."
Getting a concept of a framework of an idea of a deal done is a start. But the British were easy to convince. First off, since Brexit almost a decade ago, the UK has sought a comprehensive trade agreement with the US to replace the EU. Talks may have already been well-advanced.
Second, the US runs a trade surplus with the UK. Mr. Trump really could not complain that the Brits were taking advantage of the Yanks the way some countries were, e.g., China. The numbers were positive and small, so the agreement on a future agreement was not hard.
Third and last, Mr. Trump is a mild anglophile. He loves the kind of pomp and ceremony the British do so well. The late Queen Elizabeth seemed to have charmed him. For Mr. Trump, everything is personal relationships. He gets on well with Sir Keir. All of that helps the UK get a deal.
As expected, the British are viewing it in a partisan way. “I know people along the way were urging me to walk away, to descend in a different kind of relationship. We didn't,” the prime minister said. "We did the hard yards. We stayed in the room. I’m really pleased to say to the workforce here and through them to the country, how important I think this deal is."
The Guardian reported,
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, criticised the deal, claiming that the UK has been 'shafted' by Trump. 'When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. We cut our tariffs -- America tripled theirs. Keir Starmer called this 'historic.' It’s not historic, we've just been shafted!" However Andrew Griffith, the shadow trade secretary, said the reduction in tariffs would "be welcomed by exporting businesses."
Elsewhere, things are not looking all that good. "No new deals have been reached with America's largest trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and China. Trump has left the highest tariffs in place on China, sparking a confrontation between the world's two biggest economies. Washington and Beijing are sending officials to Switzerland this weekend for an initial round of trade talks."
Even if this framework counts as a deal, there is a lot of work yet to do, presuming the Trump administration is telling the truth when it says it wants to use tariffs to open up markets. The jury is out.
© Copyright 2025 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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