New UK/US trade deal is a relief for Starmer but doubts, and tariffs, remain

Thursday's trade agreement between the US and the UK fell far short of the superlatives heaped on it in Donald Trump's excruciating televised phone call with Keir Starmer. But it is worth having, nevertheless. As Starmer made clear by appearing in front of an audience of Jaguar Land Rover workers in Solihull, reducing the 27.5% tariff on 100,000 car exports will come as a mighty relief for that industry. Steel and aluminium tariffs will also go completely, according to the UK side - though the fact sheet from the White House stopped short of saying that explicitly, instead saying a…