US President Donald Trump suggested he might want to renege on the terms of a tariff deal the US reached with the UK as he raised complaints about Britain’s domestic policies and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“We gave them a good trade deal. Better than I had to. Which can always be changed,” Trump said in a brief interview with Sky News published Wednesday.
Trump and Starmer last year agreed to implement a trade pact that was favorable compared to the deals struck with many other US allies, promising to lower tariffs on key British exports and raise UK quotas on certain American agricultural products. The remarks arrive as leaders from the two counties are locked in a heated exchange over the UK’s reluctance to get involved in the US’s war in Iran.
The trade deal reached last summer sets a baseline 10% tariff on many British goods. And the US has created some carve outs that give favorable trade terms for the UK’s civil aerospace aircraft sector and the country’s auto exports.
However, Trump’s ability to unilaterally impose new tariffs was undercut in February in a landmark Supreme Court decision. That ruling invalidated many of his import-duty plans, even while Trump administration officials have said they are working to rebuild that tariff wall in the coming months. However, the White House now has to rely on legal authority that can be slow to implement and is more limited in scope.
Trump told Sky News that the state of the special relationship between the US and UK was “sad,” adding that he likes Starmer, but thinks he’s made “tragic” policy mistakes, like limiting oil drilling in the North Sea.
“I love your country and I would love to see it succeed. But if you have bad immigration policies and bad energy policies, you have the worst of both. You can’t succeed, not possible,” Trump added.
The UK leader has rebuffed the US president’s requests to assist the US Navy in a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Starmer also declined to allow US bombers to use British bases in the initial attack on Iran and to allow permit limited use subsequently, a decision that has attracted Trump’s ire, who has said the prime minister is no Winston Churchill.
Speaking at the outbreak of the war, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves had said the UK shouldn’t sacrifice its principles for more favorable trading terms.
Despite the Trump-Starmer spat, King Charles III is set to visit Washington at the end of the month. The state visit — Charles’s first such trip since becoming king in 2022 — comes as the US prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain.
“He’s a great gentleman, a friend of mine,” Trump told Sky News of the king. “He’s a fantastic person.”