The government is on a charm offensive in Washington. Tonight, Britain’s ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson, will host officials from Donald Trump’s government and American business figures at the British embassy. Tomorrow, the Chancellor will meet her counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Rachel Reeves is looking to permanently end the punishing 25 per cent tariff on British cars and 10 per levy on other exports.
Reeves has given an interview to one of Trump’s favourite channels, Newsmax, in which she was asked about her upcoming meeting with Bessent. In response, Reeves said she believed ‘there was a deal to be done’ and that both Keir Starmer’s and Trump’s governments were elected on a strongly held belief that ‘our economies were not working for working people, and [that] it does matter where things are made and who made them’. It was a message fine-tuned for the President.
Reeves’s team has indicated that Britain would offer to slash its 10 per cent tariffs on US-made cars and 12 per cent levies on agricultural products – potentially to just 2.5 per cent. Britain will not accept, however, America’s chlorinated chicken.
‘We are not going to be changing our standards based on asks from foreign governments. Decisions around food standards, digital services, around auto standards, are decisions for the UK government to make,’ the Chancellor said yesterday.
Reeves’s views on American food products may have more to do with appealing to Brussels than anything else. Britain needs to align its food standards with the EU’s to keep the door open to a future trade agreement with our neighbours on the Continent. Starmer will meet EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this afternoon, and the pair are expected to discuss trade and defence. Too many concessions to the US could scupper hopes of a trade deal with the EU.
The Prime Minister hopes that all this work will change the narrative on Labour’s handling of the economy. As discussed on today’s episode of Coffee House Shots, voters now say that they trust the Tories more than Labour when it comes to managing the economy.
This article originally appeared in The Spectator’s Lunchtime Espresso. Sign up here
Comments
Comment section temporarily unavailable for maintenance.