Is the US-UK trade deal good for the UK?

A trade deal with India on Tuesday, the US on Thursday and potentially the EU next week, does feel like an enormous positive boost for the UK economy. Brexit was always going to take many years to unwind and green shoots to appear. This does feel like the UK is emerging from stagnation

The US-UK trade deal announced by Trump may sound like a breakthrough, but in reality, it is little more than a political gesture, a framework rather than a concrete agreement. For both countries, the short-term economic impact is negligible. The UK market was already largely open to US goods, with average tariffs as low as 0.5%, and as high as 9.2% contradicting Trump’s claim of a 10% barrier. For UK importers and exporters, this announcement brings no substantial change—no new access, no lower costs. Instead, it reflects an attempt to justify US tariff policies with little basis in economic reality.

Starmer’s US-UK trade deal with Trump, post-April 2025 “Liberation Day” tariffs, offers modest relief: tariffs on 100,000 cars and parts drop from 25% to 10%, and steel/aluminium tariffs are zeroed, but most tariffs remain, costing UK exporters £9.5bn compared to pre-tariff levels. The beef deal is minor, and the UK commits to $10bn in Boeing planes. For Trump, it’s a win—$5bn in new exports including in agriculture, $6bn in tariff revenue, and lower UK barriers like the digital services tax, aiding US tech and aerospace. For the UK, it’s partial trade war relief, not a full deal, with Starmer eyeing an EU reset. Exporters still struggle, and with marginal GDP gains, global risks and no immediate economic turnaround, the UK needs broader reforms and market access to recover.