Trump confirms ‘full and comprehensive’ trade deal with UK – US politics live

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Downing Street did not comment on Donald Trump’s claim that the UK had agreed a “full and comprehensive” trade deal with the US.

Asked whether this was the case, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “You’ve got his words and we’ve always been clear that we want to do a deal that’s in the British national interest, and support a substantial UK-US trading relationship.

“Those talks are continuing and we look forward to providing an update later today, when you will have the PM’s words to describe it.”

President Donald Trump has said he would raise the case of jailed Hong Kong activist and former media tycoon Jimmy Lai as “part of the negotiation” with China over trade and tariffs, a move that could further stoke tensions with Beijing.

“I think talking about Jimmy Lai is a very good idea,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. “We’ll put it down, and we’ll put it down as part of the negotiation.”

Top senior US officials are due to meet with China’s top economic official on Saturday in Switzerland, a fledgling step amid a trade war stemming from Trump’s often chaotic tariff policies that have hurt the global economy and roiled markets, Reuters reported.

Trump, however, said he wasn’t willing to cut Chinese tariffs to get Beijing to the negotiating table. Adding Jimmy Lai’s case into the mix – long a diplomatic friction point between the two sides – could bring further complications.

“Look, they [China] want to make a deal so badly. That, I can tell you. But we’ve been talking,” Trump said during the radio interview.

The trial of Lai – a longstanding critic of the Chinese Communist party – has shone a spotlight on a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong following China’s imposition of a national security law (NSL) in 2020.

Countries such as the US and Britain have called for Lai’s release and say his trial amounts to political persecution.

Trump calls Powell 'a fool' a day after Fed kept interest rates on hold

The president is up early and continuing to rant and rave on his Truth Social website this morning.

Now, Donald Trump has turned his ire back to Jerome Powell, the US central bank’s chair, calling him a “fool”.

He wrote:

“Too Late” Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much! Oil and Energy way down, almost all costs (groceries and “eggs”) down, virtually NO INFLATION, Tariff Money Pouring Into the U.S. – THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF “TOO LATE!” ENJOY!

The US-UK trade deal announcement comes at a time when the president could do with some positive news on the economy.

The Federal Reserve yesterday kept interest rates on hold and called out growing dangers in the US economy amid Donald Trump’s erratic roll out of an aggressive trade strategy.

Jerome Powell, the US central bank’s chair, cautioned that the president’s tariffs were likely to raise prices, weaken growth and increase unemployment if maintained.

Fed policymakers cautioned that “the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen” as they opted to maintain the benchmark interest rate for the third time in a row. “Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” they said in a statement.

With inflation expectations – how consumers think prices will move – rising, Powell, the Fed chair, said the “driving factor” appeared to be Trump’s tariffs.

Meanwhile, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Wednesday told Fox News’ ‘The Ingraham Angle’ program that he was dismayed that the Federal Reserve has bad economic modeling on what might happen with tariffs.

Britain's Starmer to make statement on US trade talks after reports of deal

Eleni Courea

Downing Street said the British prime minister Keir Starmer would make a statement on trade talks with the US on Thursday.

The agreement is likely to focus on lowering US tariffs on specific products, such as British steel, aluminium and cars.

Trump said on Wednesday that he was preparing to announce “a major trade deal with representatives of a big and highly respected country”. In a post on Truth Social, he promised it would be the “first of many”.

A No 10 spokesperson said:

The prime minister will always act in Britain’s national interest – for workers, for business, for families.

The United States is an indispensable ally for both our economic and national security.

Talks on a deal between our countries have been continuing at pace and the prime minister will update later today.

It is unclear whether further talks will be needed or whether any reduction in tariffs will be temporary or permanent. The deal is not expected to be a comprehensive trade agreement.

Trump confirms 'full and comprehensive' trade deal between UK and US

Donald Trump has announced a trade deal between the UK and the US, saying the agreement is a “full and comprehensive one”.

He wrote on his social media website Truth Social:

The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come.

Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement.

Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!

A team of senior British trade negotiators landed in Washington on Wednesday as talks over a deal between the two countries gathered pace.

Officials from the UK business and trade department were attempting to get an agreement signed before a planned UK-EU summit on 19 May.

UK officials have previously said they were targeting tariff relief on a narrow range of sectors in order to get a deal agreed before they begin formal negotiations with the EU over a separate European agreement.

Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, has ruled out reducing food production standards to enable more trade of US agricultural products, as officials prioritise signing a separate agreement with the EU, which is likely to align British standards with European ones.

The Trump administration had imposed bruising tariffs on a number of trading partners on 2 April – on what the president dubbed “Liberation Day” – before partially reversing course after a sharp downturn in the US equity and, later, the bond markets.

The UK was not hit with reciprocal tariffs because the US has a trade surplus, where it sells more to the UK than it buys. But the UK has been affected, like every other country, by the 10% global tariff and the 25% tariff on foreign steel, aluminium and automobiles.

Trump expected to announce framework of UK trade agreement

Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.

Donald Trump is expected to announce the framework of a trade agreement with the UK, according to two people familiar with the matter, after teasing a major announcement with a “big and highly respected, country.”

The specifics of any agreement were not immediately clear and there was no comment from the White House or the British embassy in Washington on whether an actual deal had been reached or if the framework would need further negotiation. Any agreement would mark the first such deal for the administration since it imposed sweeping tariffs against trade partners last month.

In a post on Truth Social previewing the announcement, Trump was vague and did not disclose the country or the terms.

“Big news conference tomorrow morning at 10:00am, the Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

There was uncertainty about what exactly Trump would announce from the Oval Office, at the event scheduled for 10am ET (3pm BST), given the president does not have unilateral authority to enter into trade agreements and needs to secure approval from Congress.

The US has been in talks with the UK for weeks as both sides sought to reach a quick deal, discussing lowering British tariffs on US cars and farm products, as well as lowering British taxes on US technology companies, the person said.

Timothy Brightbill, an international trade attorney at Wiley Rein, told the New York Times that the announcement would probably be “just an agreement to start the negotiations, identifying a framework of issues to be discussed in the coming months.”

To read our full report on this story, see here:

In other news:

• A federal judge blocked the government from deporting migrants to Libya, amid reports that the US military planned to fly detained immigrants there this week.

• Donald Trump withdrew his nominee for surgeon general, Fox News contributor Dr Janette Nesheiwat, one day before her confirmation hearing. Later in the day, he nominated a wellness influencer close to RFK Jr to take her place.

• Columbia University called in the NYPD to clear a Gaza solidarity sit-in at a campus library, resulting in about 75 arrests.

• The Federal Reserve refused to lower interest rates as questions around the global economic outlook mount amid Trump’s erratic rollout of an aggressive trade strategy.

• Trump said there would be more information in the next day on a potential new proposal for a hostage release deal and ceasefire in Gaza.

• Stockholm’s city council rejected a “completely bizarre” demand from the US embassy in Sweden to abandon the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

• Voice of America, the US-funded broadcaster, will now run video provided by One America News, an openly partisan, virulently pro-Trump, far-right broadcaster.