Starmar Seeks Completion of UK-US Trade Deal Amid Diplomatic Talks

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Kir Starmar are meeting today, Monday (June 16, 2025), as they work toward finalizing a trade agreement between their two nations. This deal will mark the first such agreement since the White House announced a series of punitive tariffs globally. While the two leaders announced the framework of an agreement last month, finer details have been left for further negotiations, and nothing has yet been finalized. According to these initial terms, the US agreed to reduce tariffs on cars imported from the UK to 10% from 27.5% for the first 100,000 vehicles annually, and to eliminate steel tariffs from 25% to 0%. In return, the UK committed to increasing tariff quotas for American beef and ethanol. ‘We will be discussing our trade agreement because it truly matters for the vital sectors secured within our agreement,’ Starmar told reporters at Kananaskis, Canada, during the G7 summit today. ‘We are now in the final stages of implementation, and I expect this to be completed very soon.’ Trump and Starmar will hold bilateral talks later today, where trade will be among the topics discussed. For Starmar, completing an agreement that protects key industries from more aggressive tariffs before other countries would validate his diplomatic approach, which refrains from openly criticizing Trump. For the American president, it would signal that his tariff war is yielding results, gaining concessions from the UK in agriculture. Despite the May-agreed document stating that US tariffs on UK steel would drop to 0%, it remains unclear which tariffs will apply. The UK currently avoids the 50% steel tariff Trump announced last month, but final terms may depend on the UK’s ability to alleviate US concerns regarding Chinese ownership of British Steel.