‘UK won’t sign up any US trade deal if it’s not in own interest’

LONDON, June 2, (RTRS): Britain won’t sign up to any trade deal with the United States if it is not in its own interest, trade minister Liam Fox said on Saturday, after US tariffs on metals imports drew a rebuke from one of Washington’s major European allies.

Britain has talked up the prospect of a trade deal with the United States as it prepares to leave the European Union, its biggest trading partner, next year.

But Britain, along with other EU countries, Canada and Mexico, has been hit by tariffs on steel and aluminium on exports to the United States. Fox, a champion of free trade, has called the move unlawful and asked Washington to reconsider, but he said it was not a mistake to pursue a trade deal.

“If we can’t come to an agreement that we believe is in the interests of the United Kingdom, then we wouldn’t be signing any trade agreement,” Fox told BBC radio when he was asked whether Britain would accept a deal if were on the terms of President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the United States might have to exempt certain types of steel made in Germany from import tariffs especially if US firms dependent on special metals struggle to find locallyproduced alternatives, a German minister said. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said in an interview published on Saturday that US companies which rely on special types of German steel would have to raise prices and therefore this would put pressure on the US government to exempt some metals from the 25 percent tariffs.

After failing to win trade concessions, the Trump administration withdrew on Thursday exemptions from the global tariffs which had been given to steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico.