Key details of the US-UK negotiations on exchanging cars for agriculture will be revealed soon

Trump and Starmer are about to sign key parts of a US-UK trade agreement that will lower tariffs on British car exports to the US, while American beef and ethanol producers will also gain better access to the UK market.

According to Xinhua News, US President Trump announced on the 8th at the White House that the US and the UK have reached a new trade agreement that partially withdraws tariffs in specific areas and further expands market access for both sides' products. Under the terms of the trade agreement, the US retains a 10% baseline tariff. Tariffs on British car exports to the US will be reduced from 27.5% to 10%, and tariffs on steel and aluminum will be reduced from 25% to zero. This tariff concession will apply to 100,000 British cars, nearly covering the total amount of UK exports to the US last year.

In exchange, the UK is offering the US a zero-tariff quota of 13,000 tons of beef and a zero-tariff quota of 1.4 billion liters of ethanol. UK officials close to the negotiations confirmed that the legal procedures for synchronously implementing these quotas and the US car tariff reductions are in place.

On Thursday, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick stated on social media X that the agreement will take effect "in the coming days." He wrote:

"I was pleased to meet with our great ally, the Prime Minister of the UK, at Downing Street yesterday. We agreed to implement this historic trade agreement as soon as possible, starting with the established quotas for UK cars and US beef and ethanol, which will take effect simultaneously in the coming days."

It is noteworthy that the UK is the only country to have reached an agreement with the US since Trump took office on April 2.

Steel Provisions Still Under Negotiation

However, the steel portion of the agreement remains unresolved. Media reports citing UK officials close to the negotiations revealed that both sides are still negotiating the terms of Starmer's commitment to provide UK steel manufacturers with zero-tariff access to the US market. UK steel manufacturers expect an agreement to be reached by the end of this month at the earliest.

The UK's largest steel producer, Tata Steel, has warned that it may be excluded from the zero-tariff agreement with the US due to the origin issues of some of its products. The company has been importing steel from its sister plants in India and the Netherlands since closing two blast furnaces in Port Talbot last year, processing it in the UK before shipping it to customers.

This practice may violate US import regulations, which require all steel to be "melted and poured" in the exporting country. If this condition applies, it is expected that other UK producers will also be excluded from the agreement.

Domestic Bioethanol Industry Facing Life-and-Death Test

Another contentious point of the agreement is its impact on the UK's domestic bioethanol industry. The only two bioethanol plants in the UK—Ensus in Wilton, Teesside, and Vivergo near Hull—warned last month that the 1.4 billion liters of cheap US ethanol quota is equivalent to the UK's annual demand and will force them to close their plants These two factories produce bioethanol for the UK standard E10 gasoline and were already operating at a loss before reaching an agreement with the United States. The UK Department for Business and Trade stated three weeks ago that it is "working closely" with these companies and "considering possible support options," but so far no solutions have been found.

Political Pressure Behind the "Lightning Speed"

Facing domestic political pressure regarding the speed of the agreement's implementation and claims from the UK bioethanol industry that a large zero-tariff quota could lead to its bankruptcy, the Starmer government is under multiple pressures.

UK officials now hope the agreement can be signed before the weekend. Reports quote an official saying: "The presidential order is sitting on the president's desk," and dismissing complaints about the speed of implementation. "Compared to other negotiations and agreements, this is being completed at lightning speed," they added.

Since April 2, the UK has been the only country to sign an agreement with the United States. The US government is currently negotiating with other countries, having previously implemented a 90-day pause that was set to expire on July 9. These tariffs are facing legal challenges in the US