(Bloomberg) — UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will hold talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week, as the two countries continue to finalize the details of an agreement to cut tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The two are set to speak on the sidelines of the Group of Seven finance ministers’ meeting in Banff, Canada, beginning on Wednesday. It will be Reeves’s first in-person discussion with her American counterpart since Britain and the US announced the outline for a trade deal earlier this month.
The pact was hailed by Trump as “full and comprehensive” despite only covering a limited number of sectors and leaving the US’s 10% baseline tariff on goods untouched. It included carve-outs for Britain’s auto and steel industries, which face 25% US sectoral tariffs that sparked warnings of job losses.
However, the agreement didn’t specify when the tariff reductions would come into force, nor give key details such as the size of a quota for UK steel exports and the nature of US security requirements regarding ownership of British steel plants.
The UK’s vehicle and steel sectors welcomed news of the US accord at the time, but are still in the dark on when the tariffs might be reduced.
“The government is laser-focused on delivering for the British people,” Reeves said in a statement. “The world is changing, but we have shown in recent weeks that Britain is a strong economy that can navigate that change.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is trying to show voters that it’s delivering on its key pledge to lift the UK economy after years of stagnant growth, but Trump’s global tariff war has threatened to blow that project off course. Britain’s response has been to seek deeper economic ties with other allies, including signing a trade deal with India and announcing a closer relationship with the European Union.
The deals with Washington, Brussels and New Delhi “will kick-start economic growth and put more money in people’s pockets,” Reeves said in the statement. “We are once again a nation that is open for business.”
–With assistance from Zoe Schneeweiss.
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