United States President Donald Trump is expected to announce a trade deal between the US and Britain on Thursday (May 8), the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing three people familiar with the plans.
Trump posted on Truth Social earlier that he would hold an Oval Office news conference at 10am (10pm, Singapore time) on Thursday about a “major trade deal with representatives of a big, and highly respected, country”, using all capitalised letters.
He did not offer more details but said it would be the “first of many”.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the Times report.
A UK official said on Tuesday that the two countries had made good progress on a trade deal that would likely include lower tariff quotas on steel and autos.
Trump’s top officials have engaged in a flurry of meetings with trading partners since the president on Apr 2 imposed a 10 per cent tariff on most countries, along with higher “reciprocal” tariff rates for many trading partners, though those rates were later suspended for 90 days.
Britain was not among the countries hit with additional tariffs, because it imports more from the US than it exports there.
Trump has also imposed 25 per cent tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 145 per cent tariffs on China.
On Tuesday, Trump said that he and top administration officials would review potential trade deals over the next two weeks to decide which ones to accept.
Last week, he said that he has “potential” trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.
