Trump to announce trade deal with UK this week

It’s not clear whether a deal with Britain has been finalised or if the two countries will announce a framework for an agreement that will be subject to further negotiation.

Donald Trump and Keir Starmer have a warm relationship. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump will announce a trade deal with the United Kingdom on Thursday (local time), US media reports, after the US president touted a “major” upcoming announcement on social media.

The New York Times and Politico reported that Trump was set to agree to a deal with Britain, citing multiple people familiar with the plans.

Mr Trump teased the announcement in a late night post on Truth Social.

“Big News Conference tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M., The Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!” Mr Trump wrote.

Mr Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on US trading partners last month but temporarily froze most of them to allow for the negotiation of trade deals.

He has been claiming for weeks that countries were lining up to strike trade agreements with the United States.

The Times said it was not clear whether a deal with Britain had been finalised or if the two countries would announce a framework for an agreement that would be subject to further negotiation.

Britain earlier this week struck a free-trade agreement with India, its biggest such deal since leaving the European Union, after negotiations relaunched in February following US tariff threats.

The announcement comes as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer travel to Switzerland to meet their Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, for weekend talks on tariffs.

It also suggests the US is set to announce deals with other countries.

Senior British trade negotiators travelled to Washington this week, with officials hoping to get a deal signed before the planned UK-EU summit on 19 May, The Guardian reports.

Like Australia, the UK was slapped with a 10 per cent reciprocal tariff in April, and is grappling with the 25 per cent levies the US has placed on steel, aluminium and cars from abroad.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump appeared to downplay expectations for any imminent deals.

“I wish they’d stop asking, ‘How many deals are you signing this week? because one day we’ll come and we’ll give you 100 deals,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

With AFP