The United States Commerce Pact is a diplomatic victory as Keir Starmer struggles home

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Sir Keir Starmer was last week by voters in local elections, leaving his Labor Party in a state of high anxiety. But on Thursday, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was able to achieve a achievement on the international stage: a trade agreement with Donald Trump.

The agreement is expected to be of narrow scope and a large damage exercise will be large. Starmer can wait for criticism of opponents when the details of what has given exactly Trump have come Spare car and British steel industry From 25 % of 25 percent of United States fares.

There will also be a scrutiny of Britain, in a hurry to reach a trade agreement with America, has achieved good terms compared to the other countries with which the President of the United States negotiates.

But for the moment Tight He will win some plauders to be the first world leader to make an agreement with Trump, as the President of the United States announced his sweeping rates last month.

“If we can reach an agreement with India, Trump and the EU in the next three weeks, this would be the dream scenario,” a United Kingdom Minister said in The Financial Times on Monday.

Starmer agreed to a Trade Trace with India On Tuesday, and a new “Strategic Association” Post-Brexit, United Kingdom/USA “, must be agreed at a summit in London on May 19, committing both parties to deeper cooperation in defense and trade.

Thursday’s agreement is expected to focus on cutting rates In the exports of car and steel in the United Kingdom, both subject to 25 percent taxes, while British negotiators have also tried to convince Trump’s team so that it does not impose large new rates on the future.

“We have focused on the big articles: cars and steel, and prospective in the places of interest of the North -Americans,” said a United Kingdom officer, quoting pharmacists, semiconductors and aerospace as possible future goals of Trump. “Yes, it is narrow, but it covers large commerce items.”

Great Britain sold £ 6.4 million in the United States in 2023, 18 percent of exports of vehicles in the United Kingdom, while the UK steel industry sells about 400 million pounds of products in the American market.

Great Britain also sold £ 8.8 million in medicine and pharmacist Products in the United States, which is the largest commercial partner in Britain.

Starmer’s successes on the world stage contrast with their domestic work. Yougov’s latest survey shows that 61 percent thinks he is doing a bad job, with only 27 percent who says he is doing well.

According to unhappy labor deputies, voters are much more concerned about Starmer Plan Remove fuel payments in winter From 10 million pensioners than high -level negotiations on rates.

Starmer won a modest survey after his visit to the White House in February and his efforts a few days later to make a “coalition of the arranged” to fill a western military gap in Ukraine left by the United States.

The road to the United Kingdom-EUA trade agreement on Thursday has been a boom. “He has advanced in adjustments and began,” said a British negotiator. Starmer has been effusive in Trump’s flattering to maintain negotiations on the way, leaving many labor deputies squeezing their teeth.

“An indispensable ally in both economic and national security” is how Starmer described Trump in a day speech in London on Thursday. “A great and very respected country” is like Trump described Britain about social truth.

Lord Peter Mandelson, Ambassador of Britain in Washington, has developed Trump’s team networks to keep the United Kingdom at the head of the President’s mind. Scott Bessent, secretary of the United States Treasury, is especially useful for London.

Mandelson realized that it would be difficult to persuade Trump soon to cut off his 10 percent base global rate, although the hopes that remain in the United Kingdom beyond the court, so that the focus has been in the most exposed British industrial sectors.

British negotiators see the Thursday agreement on rates as a prelude to subsequent conversations, including the development of a “technology society” in the United Kingdom, which Mandelson prioritized on his arrival in Washington this year.

Starmer knows that any price you pay for Thursday’s agreement will be too high for some of its political opponents. It is expected that the UK tariff cuts, in areas such as cars and meat exports, will be part of the agreement. Downing Street has had constantly refused to guarantee deputies a vote to the pact.

But Starmer has so far refused to demand the United States that Britain has to cut off its food and animal welfare standards to allow more American beef exports and chicken. Any such concession would have been a closer trade in the United Kingdom-EU to the food product area.

However, a reduction in UK rates in agricultural products could open the door to more beef and chicken in the United States, as long as it fits the standards of the United Kingdom. Currently, only about 5 percent of the chicken is chlorine, according to the National Chicken Council of the United States, a group of industry.

David Henig, a trade expert at The Ecipe Think-Tank, said: “A United States Agreement seems more evidence than this United Kingdom government has the mood to fulfill trade agreements instead of dragging them in the hope that this will give a better result.

“With Trump any agreement must be a risk, as it can change its policy tomorrow.”

For Starmer, under the pressure to show the voters that their government is contributing, it is a risk that it is willing to take.

Additional reports by David Sheppard and Peter Foster