Trump had a press conference Thursday to explain to everyone that the beautiful, spectacular trade deal that he’s made with Britain is actually unfinished.
“The final details are being written up in the coming weeks, we’ll have it all very conclusive but the actual deal is a conclusive one,” Trump said to reporters with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the other line. “We think just about everything has been approved, so good for both countries.”
While details remain extremely unclear, this “deal” is said to include greater market access and mutually lowered tariffs.
Trump taking a victory lap for an unfinished, undefined deal immediately raised eyebrows.
“Why Britain? And why now?” … You’ve described this deal as a full and comprehensive deal, and yet … clearly, there’s much more work left to do,” said James Matthews of Sky News. “With respect, are you overstating the reach and significance of this deal, because you’re a president who needs a result at a difficult time?”
Trump proceeded to ramble, almost completely avoiding Matthews’s question.
“I think that it’s a great deal for both parties…. It opens up a tremendous market for us. It works out very well, very well. A lot of assets, you see the chart. Those are tremendous assets. But we’ve been trying, and when you say ‘why us’ meaning your country, we’ve been trying for years and they’ve been trying for years to make a deal….This is a maxed out deal, not like you said it, really incorrectly. This is a maxed out deal that we’re gonna make bigger. And we’ll make it bigger through growth.”
The framework of the deal that has been announced would reduce U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 0 percent and reduce auto tariffs to 10 percent, while leaving in a baseline 10 percent tariffs on all other products. Trump also bragged about greater market access in the United Kingdom for American beef, before being reminded by a reporter that the UK doesn’t accept American beef because of its higher food standards.
The post Trump Accidentally Admits There’s No Real Trade Deal With the UK appeared first on New Republic.
