Trump announces trade deal with UK: now targeting EU

From the Oval Office, US president celebrates ‘historic’ deal with Starmer and aims for more complex understanding with Brussels. New talks also with China over the weekend

Donald Trump announced today, Thursday 8 May, that he had reached a new trade agreement with the United Kingdom, described as a ‘breakthrough’ in bilateral relations. During a speech from the Oval Office, the US president outlined the highlights of the deal together with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was connected live by telephone.

‘I thank Prime Minister Starmer, he is an outstanding leader,’ Trump said, emphasising the strength of the relationship between Washington and London. The agreement, he explained, will provide greater access to UK markets for US companies in the chemical, mechanical and industrial sectors, strengthening economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Trump added that ‘almost everything has been approved’ and that ‘the final details are being drafted’. On Social Truth, the president reiterated that it is a ‘comprehensive and exhaustive’ agreement that will ‘consolidate relations for many years to come’.

From London, Starmer called the agreement ‘an incredible springboard for the future’ and a platform to tackle ‘global challenges’ together. He pointed out that the US and UK are the only two nations with technology sectors valued at over a trillion dollars, a sign of shared leadership in innovation.

The British PM also recalled the symbolic value of the day chosen for the announcement: 8 May, the 80th anniversary of the victory in Europe against Nazism. ‘Then as now,’ he said, ‘we are closer allies than any other country’.

Next stop: European Union and China

Trump stated that the goal now is to reach an understanding with the European Union as well, although he admitted that this is a ‘more difficult’ negotiation than the one with the United Kingdom, which ‘dovetailed perfectly’.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will travel to Switzerland on Saturday and Sunday for a meeting with a Chinese delegation. The focus of the dialogue will be tariffs and the still open trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. ‘China is very keen to come to an agreement,’ Trump noted, stressing that ’it doesn’t matter who makes the first move, it matters what happens in that room.’

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(Photo: © AndKronos)