'Historic' UK-US trade deal announced - but Tories say the UK has been 'shafted' as UUP warns it could harden Irish Sea border

Steve ​Aiken was reacting to news of a transatlantic trade deal which will open Great Britain up to certain American imports – with certain UK exports facing reduced tariffs entering America.

Donald Trump has removed the 25% tariff on UK steel and aluminium, and immediately cut the rate on most car exports from 27.5% to 10%

The agreement was branded historic by the US President – who said it was “a great deal for both parties” – while the Prime Minister said it is “hugely important” for certain sectors.

However, the Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch said the UK had been “shafted”.

“We cut our tariffs - America tripled theirs. Keir Starmer called this ‘historic.’ It’s not historic, we’ve just been shafted”, the Tory leader said.

TUV leader Jim Allister said that while the details of the deal will have to be examined, “it is clear that the Protocol will come into play”.

The US government says it now has “unprecedented access” to the UK market covering a range of products including beef, fruit and vegetables, animal feed, tobacco, chemicals and machinery.

Downing Street has insisted that it will not lower food standards – and that issue remained a “red line”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have always been clear on our red line when it comes to food standards. We are not going to lower British food standards. That’s something set out in the manifesto.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that reducing trade barriers would be “good for living standards, good for businesses and jobs here in Britain”.

However, Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland are concerned about the impact that it may have on the Irish Sea trade border – if those goods are not of a standard compatible with the EU rules under which Northern Ireland is regulated.

UUP MLA Steve Aiken, who sits on Stormont’s Windsor Framework committee, told the News Letter: “The trade deal with the US, is, on the face of it, a good deal for the United Kingdom.

“The removal of tariffs on steel and aluminium, and the reduction of tariffs on vehicles will be good for manufacturing. The importing of large volumes of US beef will not be welcomed by farmers.

“The detail and implications for Northern Ireland will be complex and it is highly unlikely the EU will allow for greater flexibility in intra-UK trade.

“Right now, rather than cautious optimism, it’s more likely to raise even more concerns about the Irish Sea Border”.

Jim Allister said: “With the deal touching on matters such as beef, Northern Ireland is governed not by UK law but by EU law. The deal is therefore likely to confirm the Union dismantling nature of the Windsor Framework.

“It is shameful that - on the very day we celebrate victory in a war which was all about respecting the territorial integrity of the nation state - we have a deal which underscores Northern Ireland’s status as a place apart when it comes to the UK.

“The obscenity of being governed by laws we cannot change made by people we do not elect flies in the face of the basic values which were secured at such a high cost 80 years ago.”

The UK’s ambassador to the US Lord Peter Mandelson said the deal was “not the end, it’s the end just of the beginning”.

Speaking in the Oval Office he said: “There is yet more we can do in reducing tariffs and trade barriers so as to open up our markets to each other, even more than we are agreeing to do today.

“But it also provides us with the platform, the springboard, to do what I think will be even more valuable for both our countries in the future and that’s creating a technology partnership between the United States and the United Kingdom so that we can harness science and technology in order to create future industries and future jobs.”