UK and US enter talks over mini-deal on tariffs
The UK has entered talks with outgoing US President Donald Trump’s administration over a potential mini-deal to reduce trade tariffs.
US trade chief Robert Lighthizer said he was hopeful for a deal that could see punitive tariffs on Scottish whisky lowered, according to the BBC.
He also suggested the UK would need to go further than last week’s announcement breaking with the EU’s support of European plane maker Airbus.
“I’m talking to [international trade secretary] Liz Truss, about trying to work out some kind of a deal… I’m hopeful we can get some kind of an agreement out you know, we don’t have a lot of time left,” said Lighthizer.
“We have the advantage in that both the US and the UK — particularly the current government of the UK — are not big subsidisers, where some other countries are more inclined to subsidise.
“So it would be helpful if we could come to some kind of agreement,” he said.
It comes after Britain recently said it would drop tariffs against the US over subsidies for aerospace firms.
Britain will suspend retaliatory tariffs imposed on US goods as part of a dispute over aircraft subsidies when the UK formally leaves the bloc on 1 January.
The UK last week unilaterally broke with European support of Airbus in a long-running transatlantic trade dispute.
Truss scrapped policy that was set out in January vowing to continue support after Brexit, by announcing it would no longer apply tariffs to imports of Boeing aircraft.
Truss said that she wanted to “de-escalate” the 16-year-old conflict over subsidies.
Lighthizer added that it was “extremely likely” that a full UK-US trade deal would be struck “before long”, while emphasising that “tough compromises have to be made” on issues such as agriculture.
The UK has insisted it will not bow to Washington’s food and hygiene standards, which could see chlorinated chicken flood British supermarkets.
Asked whether the US would accept demands to adapt UK food standards on beef and chicken, Lighthizer told the BBC: “These negotiations are ongoing.
“Clearly the US needs to get additional access to the agricultural market in the UK — that’s an important part of it, each side has to get something out of it,” he said.
“These are complicated technical issues. And they’re the kinds of things that will be worked out, I think, in the in the final stages of negotiation.”