Britain will not relax its food safety standards as part of any deal to secure lower tariffs on its exports to the United States, business minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump has imposed 10 per cent tariffs on most imports of British goods to the United States and a higher 25 per cent rate on imports of cars, steel and aluminium.
Although the tariffs imposed on Britain are at the lower end of the United States’ scale – reflecting broadly balanced trade flows between the two countries – Reynolds said he still viewed the greater trade barriers as “disappointing”.
Earlier this month, just after the tariffs were announced, Reynolds told the BBC it was “not inaccurate” to say the United States and Britain had agreed the broad outline of a possible deal, although Trump had not seen it.
However, there has been little sign of progress since and last week finance minister Rachel Reeves said she intended to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “shortly”.
Attempts to strike a bilateral trade deal during Trump’s first term in 2017-21 ran into opposition from Britain’s Conservative government at the time over measures to lower animal welfare and environmental standards.
