KANANASKIS, Alberta (Reuters) -Britain and the United States should finalize “very soon” the implementation of a trade deal agreed last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Canada.
Trump is expected to sign a proclamation on the terms of the deal covering steel, ethanol, autos and beef, three sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Work on the proclamation had been completed, but it was not immediately clear if Trump would sign it when he meets Starmer later on Monday, the sources said.
“I’m certainly seeing President Trump today, and I’m going to discuss with him our trade deal,” Starmer told reporters on the sidelines of a Group of Seven (G7) meeting.
“I’m very pleased that we made that trade deal, and we’re in the final stages now of implementation, and I expect that to be completed very soon.”
Britain was the first country to agree a deal for lower tariffs from Trump, with the U.S. reducing tariffs on imports of UK cars, aluminium and steel, and Britain agreeing to lower tariffs on U.S. beef and ethanol.
But implementation of the deal has been delayed while details were being hammered out. The proclamation readied by the White House will set an effective date in coming weeks, one of the sources said.
On steel and aluminium, the U.S. agreed to lower the 25% tariffs on imports from Britain to zero, subject to setting a quota for British steel imports that must meet supply chain requirements.
Britain had avoided tariffs of up to 50% on steel and aluminium that the U.S. imposed on other countries earlier this month, but could face elevated tariffs from July 9 unless a deal to implement the tariff reduction is reached.
(Reporting by Suzanne Plunkett and Andrea Shalal, Writing by Sachin Ravikumar and Alistair Smout; Editing by Kate Holton and Deepa Babington)
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