The United States and the United Kingdom will announce a "full and comprehensive" trade deal, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday ahead of a planned news conference later during the day.
The deal would mark the first with any country since Trump unleashed a tariff storm, introducing levies on almost everything, from autos to steel.
"This should be a very big and exciting day" for the U.S. and U.K., Trump said in a post on his Truth Social.
The U.S.-U.K. trade agreement is "a full and comprehensive one" that will "cement the relationship" between the two countries "for many years to come," he said.
Trump said earlier there would be developments in trade talks with a "big and highly respected country."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had been due to spend the day focusing on events to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, said he would "act in (the U.K.'s) national interest" to "deliver security and renewal" for the U.K..
Starmer is expected to say more on the deal later on Thursday, while Trump has promised a news conference at 10 a.m. in Washington (2 p.m. GMT).
The U.S. president placed a 10% tax on imports from Britain, as well as 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum on the premise that doing so would foster more factory jobs domestically.
A major goal of British negotiators has been to reduce or lift the U.S. import tax on U.K. cars and steel. The U.S. is the largest destination for British cars, accounting for more than a quarter of U.K. auto exports in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Britain has also sought tariff exemptions for pharmaceuticals, while the U.S. wants greater access to the British market for agricultural products. Starmer's government has said it won't lower U.K. food standards to allow in chlorine-rinsed American chicken or hormone-treated beef.
If a deal is announced, the British government will see it as a vindication of Starmer's emollient approach to Trump, which has avoided direct confrontation or criticism. Unlike the European Union, Britain did not announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump's import taxes.
A trade deal with the United Kingdom would be symbolically important and a relief for British exporters.
The U.S. ran a $11.9 billion trade surplus in goods with the U.K. last year, according to the Census Bureau. The $68 billion in goods that the U.S. imported from the U.K. last year accounted for just 2% of all goods imported into the country.
The U.S. is much more important to the U.K. economy. It was Britain's biggest trading partner last year, according to government statistics, though the bulk of Britain's exports to the U.S. are services rather than goods.
