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US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal framework announced

8 May 2025 · written 8 June 2026

On 8 May 2025 US President Donald J. Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the General Terms for the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Economic Prosperity Deal — a political framework, not a free-trade agreement notified under GATT Article XXIV — covering reciprocal-tariff baseline treatment, Section 232 auto and steel/aluminium relief and reciprocal market access for ethanol, beef and US-origin aircraft.12 The US negotiator was Trade Representative Jamieson Greer; the operative US tariff changes require subsequent presidential proclamations and the UK side requires parliamentary scrutiny under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG).3 The auto track took effect on 25 June 2025 by separate proclamation.4

  1. The 10 per cent reciprocal baseline on UK goods under Executive Order 14257 of 2 April 2025 is retained under the framework rather than removed.5 Under the auto track, the first 100,000 UK-origin passenger vehicles per year would enter at the combined 10 per cent rate — the 10 per cent reciprocal in lieu of the 25 per cent § 232 duty under Proclamation 10908 of 26 March 2025 — with imports above the quota continuing to face the § 232 rate; the framework also covers UK-origin auto parts on parallel terms.6

  2. The framework provides that the Section 232 steel and aluminium duties (25 per cent under Proclamations 10895 and 10896 of 10 February 2025, which terminated the prior UK tariff-rate quotas built up after Proclamations 9704 and 9705 of 2018) would be replaced by a tariff-rate quota under a “yet-to-be-finalised arrangement on supply-chain security.”7 The operative authority is § 232(c) of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, 19 U.S.C. § 1862(c).8

  3. The UK is to open a duty-free quota for US ethanol up to 1.4 billion litres; the parties announced reciprocal beef quotas of approximately 13,000 metric tons each; and International Airlines Group (IAG, parent of British Airways) announced an order for Boeing aircraft valued at approximately USD 10 billion alongside the framework.9 Preferential treatment of UK goods outside an Article XXIV FTA raises Most-Favored-Nation questions under GATT Article I that the framework does not resolve on its face.

Footnotes

  1. White House, “Fact Sheet: U.S.-UK Reach Historic Trade Deal,” 8 May 2025. This was cited as “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Announces U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal” at a URL that now returns 404; the live fact sheet carries the same date and covers the Economic Prosperity Deal under the title given here. Corrected 17 September 2026 to the title the page actually bears. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/05/fact-sheet-u-s-uk-reach-historic-trade-deal/ ↩

  2. UK Department for Business and Trade, “General Terms for the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Economic Prosperity Deal,” 8 May 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-us-trade-deal ↩

  3. Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (UK), Part 2 (Ratification of treaties), 21-sitting-day scrutiny window. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/25/part/2 ↩

  4. Executive Order/proclamation implementing the UK auto track of the Economic Prosperity Deal, effective 25 June 2025 (Federal Register publication to be verified). ↩

  5. Executive Order 14257, “Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices That Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits,” 90 Fed. Reg. 15041 (Apr. 7, 2025) (FR Doc. 2025-06063). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/07/2025-06063/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and ↩

  6. Proclamation 10908, “Adjusting Imports of Automobiles and Automobile Parts Into the United States,” 90 Fed. Reg. 14705 (Apr. 3, 2025). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/03/2025-05930/adjusting-imports-of-automobiles-and-automobile-parts-into-the-united-states ↩

  7. Proclamation 10895, “Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United States,” 90 Fed. Reg. 9807, and Proclamation 10896, “Adjusting Imports of Steel Into the United States,” 90 Fed. Reg. 9817 (Feb. 18, 2025) (FR Docs. 2025-02832 and 2025-02833). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/02/18/2025-02833/adjusting-imports-of-steel-into-the-united-states ↩

  8. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, 19 U.S.C. § 1862(c) (presidential authority to adjust imports). https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title19-section1862&edition=prelim ↩

  9. International Airlines Group, announcement of Boeing aircraft order alongside the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal, 8 May 2025. ↩

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