US tariff relief for UK carmakers and aerospace comes into force
30 June 2025 09:31
LONDON (dpa)Tariff cuts for the automotive and aerospace sectors have come into force after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer finalised parts of a deal for relief from US import taxes.Car manufacturers exporting to the United States will face a 10% tariff quota, down from 27.5%, while the aerospace sector will see a 10% levy removed entirely.Starmer hailed the "historic trade deal" with the US, clinched after US President Donald Trump imposed the import taxes as part of his "liberation day" tariffs on countries across the world.The prime minister and US president finalised the deal for those sectors at the Group of Seven (G7) summit, but levies on steel have been left standing at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed.Talks are ongoing to secure 0% tariffs on core steel products from the UK.The executive order signed by Trump suggests the US wants assurances on the supply chains for UK steel intended for export, as well as on the "nature of ownership" of production facilities.Starmer said: "Our historic trade deal with the United States delivers for British businesses and protects UK jobs. From today, our world-class automotive and aerospace industries will see tariffs slashed, safeguarding key industries that are vital to our economy."We will always act in the national interest - backing British businesses and workers, delivering on our Plan for Change."Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the deal would save hundreds of millions each year and safeguard thousands of jobs."We agreed this deal with the US to protect jobs and support growth in some of our most vital sectors - and today, we're delivering on that promise for the UK's world-class automotive and aerospace industries."The government is also due to update parliament on Monday on ethanol and quotas on US beef.Under the deal, it was agreed that a 20% tariff on US beef imports to the UK be removed and the quota for US beef raised to 13,000 metric tons.A 19% tariff on ethanol imports from the US is also due to be removed, with a tariff-free quota of 1.4 billion litres of US ethanol applied.
The bioethanol industry says the deal has made it impossible to compete with heavily subsidised US products. The UK's largest bioethanol plant warned last week that it could be weeks from stopping production.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
28 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
High Court rejects challenge to export of UK-made F-35 parts to Israel
The High Court has rejected the challenge brought by rights groups which sought to halt the export of British-made F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel following a 20-month court battle. In a 72-page ruling released on Monday, Lord Justice Males and Mrs Justice Steyn said that the case was narrowly focused on whether the court could rule that the UK "must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration" considered vital by ministers to the defence of the UK because some UK-made parts might be supplied to Israel and used in serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. "Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive which is democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts," they found. Middle East Eye understands that the groups who brought the case plan to appeal. The case was first initiated by the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq in late October 2023, soon after Israel launched an attack on Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks in Israel earlier that month. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Under the Tory government, UK arms exports to Israel continued without any apparent change, despite concerns raised as early as November 2023 by the Foreign Office unit assessing Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law. Last September, the newly elected Labour government suspended around 30 export licenses for UK-made arms after the government assessed there was a clear risk the items could be used in Gaza in serious violations of international humanitarian law. The licensing of UK-made F-35 components exported directly to Israel were suspended, but parts sent to a global F-35 programme spare parts pool which could end up in Israel were exempted, leaving the court case to shift focus onto the parts. UK-made F-35 components make up 15 percent of every F-35, one of the world's most sophisticated fighter jets which Israel has used extensively in its campaign in Gaza, as well as in Lebanon and more recently in Iran. The government had argued that there was no way the UK could unilaterally halt the export of UK-made parts without impacting the worldwide fleet of F-35s and threatening global peace and security. Glan and Al-Haq, and three British human rights organisations which are parties to the case, argued that under the Arms Trade Treaty and the Genocide Convention, the UK, as a state party to both, is obligated to stop sending the parts and that, by failing to follow its obligations, is threatening the rule of law globally. More than 56,500 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, with 133,419 wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- Khaleej Times
After Iran, pressure mounts on Netanyahu to end Gaza war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rise in popularity during the war with Iran may already be fading, as pressure mounts at home to end the conflict in Gaza. Netanyahu claimed victory over the Islamic republic in the 12-day war that ended with a ceasefire last week, after President Donald Trump ordered US warplanes to join in bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Political scientist Assaf Meydani, in a column on Israeli website Ynet on Saturday, said that alongside a "victory for both Trump and Netanyahu" in Iran, the Israeli leader "will have to explain a series of failures". Most notable among them, according to Meydani, is Netanyahu's "failure to end the campaign in Gaza", where Israel has been fighting to crush the Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023. "Hamas, though battered, has not been destroyed, and 'Swords of Iron' has become prolonged attrition," Meydani said, using Israel's name for its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. "The people of Israel are strong, but tensions are simmering." Israelis fearful of the threat of a nuclear Iran rallied behind Netanyahu as he led the campaign against Israel's longtime rival. Now that that war is over, domestic and international pressure has resumed to secure an end to the fighting in Gaza. A public opinion poll published by Israel's Kan public broadcaster the day after Tuesday's ceasefire with Iran suggested a rise in support for Netanyahu. But while his approval ratings went up compared to previous polls, 52 percent of respondents in the Kan survey still said they wanted Netanyahu -- Israel's longest-serving prime minister -- out of office. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they wanted the Gaza war to end, compared to 22 per cent who favoured continuing the fighting. Israeli newspaper Maariv said Friday that its polling showed a "surge" for Netanyahu immediately after the ceasefire with Iran had "evaporated almost entirely" within days. In the coastal hub of Tel Aviv on Saturday, thousands of people gathered to demand a ceasefire deal that would bring home the dozens of hostages still held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Liri Albag, who was released from captivity in January under a short-lived truce, told the crowd that Netanyahu and Trump "made brave decisions on Iran. Now make the brave decision to end the war in Gaza and bring (the hostages) home." 'Terrible failures' Trump wrote on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that "Netanyahu is negotiating a deal with Hamas that will include the release of the hostages." On Sunday, he added: "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" On the same day, Netanyahu said that the war with Iran had created "opportunities" to free the remaining hostages. Netanyahu has also faced renewed pressure from one of his political rivals, former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Criticising the Netanyahu government's "inability to decide" on Gaza, Bennett called for "a comprehensive agreement that includes the release of all the hostages" to end "the terrible impasse and political confusion". "Netanyahu must step down. He has been in power for 20 years... that's far too long", Bennett told Israel's Channel 12 in an interview that aired on Saturday. "The people want change, they want calm," added Bennett, who is widely expected to run for office again in the next elections, scheduled for late 2026. Gil Dickman, a prominent activist demanding action by Israel to secure the release of the hostages, said that while "the operation in Iran was a success", Netanyahu had "failed" to "make people forget his responsibility" for failing to prevent Hamas's unprecedented 2023 attack. Dickman, whose cousin Carmel Gat was killed in captivity and her body retrieved from Gaza in August, told AFP that Netanyahu's "terrible failures and the abandonment of the hostages will not be forgotten". Expressing "cautious optimism" after Trump's recent remarks, Dickman said there was "apparently an opportunity to end the war". "We couldn't save my cousin, but we can still save those who are still alive in Gaza."
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Iranian senior clerics issue fatwas over threats against Ayatollah Khamenei
Senior Shiite clerics in Iran have issued fatwas declaring that 'any individual or regime' threatening the Islamic republic's leadership and religious authority is guilty of 'moharebeh' − a term in Sharia that means waging war against God. The fatwas came in response to a formal religious inquiry following recent threats by US President Donald Trump and Israeli officials against Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian state media reported. Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Friday that he had saved the Iranian leader from assassination, and accused Mr Khamenei of ingratitude. 'I knew exactly where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces, by far the greatest and most powerful in the world, terminate his life,' Mr Trump posted. 'I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death, and he does not have to say, 'thank you President Trump'.' Mr Trump also said that he had been working on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran − one of Tehran's main demands − but had halted this. 'But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,' Mr Trump added. He urged Iran to return to the negotiating table. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel had wanted to assassinate Mr Khamenei during the 12-day war with Iran. 'If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,' Mr Katz told Channel 13 in an interview broadcast last Thursday. He said Israeli forces had searched for Mr Khamenei, but no chance to kill him presented itself. In a statement released on Sunday by his office, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, one of Iran's most senior Shiite clerics, urged Muslims around the world to take a firm stance against such threats, stating that those who endure hardship or loss in countering them will be deemed mujahid – a fighter in the path of God. 'Any person or regime that threatens or assaults the leadership and religious authority of the Islamic Ummah is considered a mohareb,' the statement read. 'Any form of co-operation or support for such entities by Muslims or Islamic governments is forbidden.' Another Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani, said that any threat or assault on Mr Khamenei and the religious authority is 'considered an insult to the essence of Islam and carries the ruling of moharebeh'. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday condemned the 'disrespectful and unacceptable' comments from the US President. 'If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran's supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt supporters,' Mr Araghchi posted on X. The Iranian Foreign Minister also appeared to mock Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who at a summit of the western military alliance last week praised Mr Trump for the US intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict and referred to him as 'Daddy'. 'The great and powerful Iranian people, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had no choice but to run to 'Daddy' to avoid being flattened by our missiles, do not take kindly to threats and insults,' Mr Araghchi said. Mr Khamenei said on Thursday the US had 'achieved nothing' after it joined the war to support Israel, and that Tehran had delivered 'a heavy slap to the US's face'. In response, a day later, Mr Trump told Mr Khamenei: 'Look, you're a man of great faith. A man who's highly respected in his country. You have to tell the truth. You got beat to hell.'
