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Prime Minister Rachel Reeves will travel to Washington this week to provide a case for global free trade, while also urging the Trump administration to cut punitive tariffs on British automobile and steel exports.
When Reeves first met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, he will discuss a possible UK/US trade deal and stress that the UK will not reach an agreement at any cost.
However, Reeves will take advantage of the IMF and the World Bank’s spring meetings (attended by top finance ministers and central bankers) in Washington to enable wider liberal and open trade cases.
According to her allies, the prime minister is seeking to strengthen Britain’s economic ties with the EU, China and India, and he will argue that free trade is in the UK’s national interest.
The meeting in Washington marked the first major gathering of the top economic policymakers in the U.S. capital since Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, adding to their discussion.
The IMF meeting was designated as a sign of global growth forecasts as more and more trade barriers place emphasis on major economies, including the United States, Europe and China.
A briefing on Reeves’ plan said: “Practicing on the national interest of the UK means continuing to be free and open to trade around the world” – a case that will be repeatedly filed during the Prime Minister in Washington.
The Prime Minister plans to attend an IMF open meeting (a debate on the global economy) on Thursday and will hold talks with the economic outlook, including Bessent.
In London, it is seen as one of the voices of less trade within the Trump administration, but White House officials say the 10% benchmark tariffs imposed by Trump on many countries, including the UK, may remain.
Lord Peter Mandelson, the British Minister and British Ambassador in Washington, has been particularly focused on persuading Trump to cut 25% of global import tariffs on automobile and steel that are linked to the UK.
While Britain is preparing to cut its digital services tax, which involves U.S. tech companies and reduces tariffs on some U.S. meat and seafood exports, other Trump demands may be too difficult for Sir Keir Starmer’s administration.
Starmer has ruled out relaxation of UK food safety standards, including food safety standards covering US beef and chicken exports, and any dilution of the UK’s online safety law will cause huge political backlash.
“Any deal that can be obtained will always have a British national interest,” Reeves said in a speech before his visit to the United States last week.
The Prime Minister is also pushing for ambitious deals to reduce barriers to trade with the EU, for example, aligning UK food standards with food standards in other parts of Europe to simplify cross-channel trade.
Any concessions to food standards by the UK (the long-term demand of the US in any trade discussion) could endanger hopes of closer ties to the EU. Starmer will host the UK/EU summit on May 19 to “reset” the trade and security relations suffered by Brexit.
One person briefing the UK/US trade negotiations said that progress was “appropriate, start” but added: “We need the right deal, not the fast deal, but we need to do that to make progress in the technology partnership.”
According to British officials, Reeves had never seen Becon before, but the two often spoke on the phone.
But British officials warned they do not want Reeves’ meeting with Becent this week to be a “breakthrough moment” in trade talks with the United States.
During the Good Friday call, Starmer and Trump discussed the status of the discussion about the UK/US deal, and Downing Street described the speech as “continuous and productive.”
However, official statements from Phone 10 suggest that Starmer reminded Trump that there were some red lines in his negotiating stance.
“The Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to free and open trade and the importance of protecting national interests,” he said on the 10th.
