UK Inks Historic Trade Deal with Trump—Wall Street Left Scratching Heads

London bypasses EU deadlock to strike first bilateral agreement with the Trump administration. A move hailed as ’pragmatic’ by Downing Street—and ’questionable’ by currency traders watching the pound wobble.

Details remain scarce, but insiders hint at tech and finance sector concessions. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analysts quietly update their ’Brexit Chaos Bingo’ cards.

One thing’s certain: when populists shake hands, someone’s always holding the bag.

Trump reboots trade strategy with UK at the front

No other country has landed a deal yet. Britain now becomes the first, and the stakes are high. It’s still not clear if the deal is completely finalized or if Thursday’s announcement is just the start of formal talks. Either way, this is the first public outcome of Trump’s economic pressure tactics.

The UK has been chasing this for years. After Brexit, it lost easy access to European markets and needed new trade routes. A deal with the US was a top priority, but nothing came from the talks under Joe Biden. 

Things started moving again this year when Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Trump in February at the White House, bringing a formal invite from King Charles III for Trump to make another state visit to Britain.

Trump’s interest isn’t new. His team tried to negotiate with the UK in his first term, but never closed the deal. Since getting back in office, Trump’s trade officials have been chasing agreements with other countries like India, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam.

None of those have gone public yet. But on Tuesday, Trump made clear he isn’t in a rush. “We don’t have to sign deals,” he said. “We could sign 25 deals right now, Howard, if we wanted to. They have to sign deals with us.” He was talking to Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary.

This trade move is different from the long, full-scope agreements that go through Congress. Those take more than a year and cover nearly every industry. Trump’s approach leans toward smaller, quick-to-announce agreements. 

These don’t require votes in Washington. In his first term, Trump replaced NAFTA, reworked a deal with South Korea, and signed a bunch of what he called “mini-deals,” targeting just a few sectors like farm goods or tech taxes.

Even as the UK was closing this new deal with the US, it also signed a trade pact with India on Tuesday. That agreement lowers tariffs between the two and gives British companies better access to India’s insurance and banking sectors. It followed nearly three years of talks.

British officials are also still negotiating with the European Union, meaning the country is moving on multiple fronts to build stronger trade ties after Brexit left it exposed. But the deal with Trump might be the most high-profile one yet — not because of the details, but because of what it says politically.

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