The United States has agreed to ease Trump-era tariffs on United Kingdom steel and aluminum shipments. In exchange, the United Kingdom will suspend extra taxes it had put on United States products such as bourbon and Levi’s jeans.
Under the agreement, the US will replace the 25% tariffs on steel with a quota system. The policy will let United Kingdom metal imports into the country duty-free up to a certain level – the quota – before taxes kick in again.
The deal will go into effect June 1.
United States officials also welcomed the suspension of the UK retaliatory tariffs, which they said affected about $500m worth in annual trade.
The United States and the United Kingdom traded more than $260 billion worth of goods last year, of which the majority were exports from the United States such as metals, aircraft parts, oil and gas.
While America accounts for nearly one fifth of total United Kingdom trade, the United Kingdom market represents just 5% of United States exports.