Darren Jones said 150,000 jobs were protected in the trade agreement agreed with the US, with Keir Starmer adding that the impact would be ‘measured in billions of pounds’
The landmark UK-US trade deal was urgently needed to protect as many as 150,000 jobs, a top minister said.
Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, rejected Tory claims that the UK was in a worse trading situation with the US than before Donald Trump introduced sweeping tariffs. Ministers say getting the agreement over the line was crucial as tens of thousands of jobs could be lost within days.
Keir Starmer said the impact will be “measured in billions of pounds” and said “many thousands” of workers will benefit.
He said: “It gives us great potential for the future, this is a really good deal for our country.” The PM’s remarks came after Mr Jones admitted he would like to see tariffs scrapped altogether.
The Treasury minister said: “If I could rather be in a world where there were no tariffs, of course I would. But that’s just not the world that exists. So it’s not really an option on the table. The option on the table is to have not signed a trade deal with the United States and had higher tariffs, or to have signed a trade deal with the United States and had lower tariffs.
“We’ve signed that trade deal. We’ve got lower tariffs in critical manufacturing sectors in the UK. 150,000 people’s livelihoods that we’ve protected as a consequence of that trade deal.”
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An agreement unveiled on Thursday saw 25% tariffs on aluminium and steel scrapped after weeks of anxiety. And a similar levy on cars was reduced to 10% for the first 100,000 exported to the US.
But the universal 10% tariff on trade remains, with further negotiations set to continue in the coming weeks. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said that without the “historic” breakthrough, “we were at risk of thousands of people losing their jobs”.
Asked how quickly that could happen he said: “Days.” And Chancellor Rachel Reeves hailed the agreement, saying it shows the Government will step up to protect workers.
She said: “This is a good deal for our car manufacturing sector, aerospace, life sciences and crucially, steel. I think this is an example of when business, when working people face a challenge, this isn’t a government that just steps back.
“We step up and we work with business, we work with trade unions to protect jobs, to secure jobs and bring investment into Britain.” The Government has insisted there would be no changes to food standards amid fears the Trump administration would force the UK to accept chlorinated chicken or chemically-treated beef.
But the PM declined to rule out changes to the digital services tax as part of a future agreement. This is a 2% levy on the UK revenues of big tech companies.
Speaking from Norway Mr Starmer said: “The deal that we signed off yesterday doesn’t cover that. That’s predominantly focused on steel and aluminium and reducing those tariffs on car manufacturing and reducing the tariffs there, and then future proofing for pharmaceuticals, three really important sectors, and that, as I say, will be measured in thousands and thousands of jobs that will be protected, saved, and will thrive as a result of this.
“On digital services, there are ongoing discussions, obviously, on other aspects of the deal, but the important thing to focus on yesterday is the sectors that are now protected that the day before yesterday were very exposed.”
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