President Trump dropped a copy of the preliminary US-UK trade deal Monday during a windy outdoor appearance with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 summit in the Canadian Rockies.
“We just signed a document. This is — ” Trump began to address the press while standing with Starmer to address journalists.
The president opened an envelope with the pact, which immediately fluttered to the ground.
Starmer swiftly bent over to grab the papers and stuff them back into Trump’s envelope.
“Sorry about that — a little windy out here!” the president said.
“We just signed it and it’s done. So we have our trade agreement with the European Union [sic] and it’s a fair deal for both. It’s going to produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income. And we have many, many other ones.”
Trump meant to say UK rather than invoke the EU, which has yet to strike a deal ahead of Trump’s threatened 50% tariff rate, due to hit July 9 without a bargain.
The text of the document brandished by Trump was posted shortly afterward on the White House website and reflected the broad sweeps of a tariffs deals announced on May 8.
Starmer became the first world leader to strike a bilateral trade deal with Trump since his April 2 “reciprocal” tariffs.
The deal leaves intact Trump’s new 10% baseline tariffs, but allows limited exemptions from Trump’s 25% tariff on foreign-made cars and 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The new document affirms that 100,000 UK-made cars will be exempted from the 25% tariff and subject to a lower 10% rate — encompassing roughly all of the annual British cars sent to the US.
The deal also describes forthcoming quotas for steel and aluminum exempted from Trump’s heightened levies and mentions special treatment for aircraft parts.
The documents does not spell out some of the biggest ticket items for US negotiators, such as the adoption of regulatory changes to allow greater imports of meat and ethanol fuel.
The paperwork reaffirms those aspects without providing an update.
“The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially for beef, ethanol, and certain other American agricultural exports. In addition, the United Kingdom will reduce or eliminate numerous non-tariff barriers that unfairly discriminate against American products, hurt the United States’ manufacturing base, and threaten the national security of the United States,” the file says.
