There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.
Winston S. Churchill
This Mother’s Day, I’m grateful that Mother England signed the first trade deal with America. I know lots of CEOs, who’ve not slept a wink since Trump put forth his tariff schedule (precisely the effect he wanted), and they needed some good news. And Trump? Let’s get real: he needed a deal.
In reaching the UK-US trade deal, Keir Starmer showed the world how cooler heads could secure a trade deal with the Trump administration. The British prime minister’s words from the Oval Office and a Midlands factory, along with “leaks” from his ministers, chronicle how Britain got across the goal line.
Starmer reacted with emotional patience to Trump’s crushing tariffs. He did not retaliate like China’s president, who put a 125% tariff on almost all US goods. Nor did he pop off like Ottawa’s premier, who said Canada would “inflict as much pain as possible” on Americans, who would “be terminated.” Big talk gets headlines, but cool heads get trade deals.
Big talk from a Canadian ($29.3 billion defense budget), whose freedom is provided by Americans ($997 billion defense budget). When the US has a $1.1 trillion trade deficit, the country that ships 75% of its exports to the US should not poke the bear. Like Starmer, who resisted calls to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs to protect the 15.3% of British exports that ships to the US.
Canada could learn from Britain’s PM, who agreed with Trump in principle. Huge trade deficits with US allies ($63.3 billion with Canada and $235.6 billion with the EU) ARE intolerable. Providing two-thirds of total NATO defense spending while running up a $2.1 trillion budget deficit IS unsustainable. Trump’s concerns became Starmer’s concerns, which is more than I can say for Democrats…
…who publicly root against Trump’s quest for fair trade. Unlike 47 congressional Dems sending an epistle to CNBC calling the tariffs a “corrupt scheme to enrich administration officials,” Starmer said he’s “working with…Donald…to reduce barriers to trade with the United States and across the world.”
Asked if he “trusted Trump” to honor the deal, Starmer said “yes” and that it “was in writing” (source: The Telegraph). Can you imagine Chuck Schumer saying he “trusts” Trump? No, because he’d be car-bombed.
Credit Starmer with correctly reading the room (AKA Realpolitik). His voters chose BREXIT in 2016. Democrats (Obama) said that pushed the UK “to the rear of the line.” Trump 1.0 tried for a bilateral trade deal. Trump 2.0 says, “economic security is national security.” Starmer’s told party insiders that partnering with the world’s technology and military superpower is an economic and military force multiplier for Britain. We’ll played, sir!
Political rivals belittle Starmer because the US had a $11.9 billion trade surplus with the UK and increased its average tariff rates on UK goods to 10%, while the average UK tariff rate will drop from 5.1% to 1.3%. That’s myopic, when Starmer and Trump said they plan to “boost trade between and across our countries – not only protect jobs, but create jobs, opening market access” (source: Reuters).
To wit, Trump reduced tariffs on the UK’s struggling aluminum and steel industries from 15% to zero, Starmer lowered tariffs on US ethanol from 19% to zero, and both agreed to new reciprocal market access on beef. No tariffs on British jet engines and parts, and British Airways just gave Boeing a $13 billion order. So far, so good, but fair trade is complex.
British naysayers say a 10% tariff on their autos is bad. Not if Britain’s competitors are tariffed at 25%. Maybe Democrats and Tories should start celebrating small victories, because I heard both leaders talk about helping each other. Starmer spoke of leveraging Anglo-American advantages in finance and technology. Trump spoke of protecting the UK and US from global-trade cheaters.
Maybe Starmer observed Zelensky refusing to say “thank you” to Trump, and decided that accepting higher US tariffs would be Mother England’s way of repaying her favorite son on VE Day – – for 80 years of NATO, and 40 years of free access to America’s markets. And, maybe the reporter asking Starmer if he “trusted” Trump, should have identified the injured party first.
As of this writing, the US and China have reported “substantial progress” toward a trade agreement. A joint statement is planned, but both sides have expressed optimism.
Chinese vice minister Li Chenggang: “Whenever it gets released, it will be good news for the world.”
US trade representative Jamieson Greer: “It’s important how quickly we were able to come to an agreement.”
That’s the big news, but credit Britain for giving Trump his first win.