Jonathan Reynolds is in Washington DC for the first in-person trade talks under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The business and trade secretary is in the US capital today for talks which officials said were aimed at strengthening UK-US ties and to discuss a wider economic deal.
Reynolds will meet US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and trade representative Jamieson Greer, for the first set of in-person talks in since President Trump’s inauguration.
He is expected to use the Washington meetings to represent the interests of key industries including the UK steel sector and to kick off talks on securing a wider economic deal.
Reynolds said “protecting and growing the industries that power the UK” was a “priority” for the government.
He added that the Washington visit was “the latest step in our pragmatic and positive engagement with the new administration to agree a wider economic deal in both our interests”.
And he stressed: “The UK and US share a fair and balanced relationship, one that has benefitted both sides for many decades, and we will both benefit as we strengthen this relationship further.”
Reynolds tariff response
The US is the UK’s single largest country trading partner, with some £1.2 trillion invested in each other’s economies across sectors including financial services, renewables, and technology, Department of Business and Trade (DBT) officials stressed.
It comes after Reynolds and industry minister Sarah Jones met with senior steel and aluminium industry representatives last week, while the business secretary backed the sector’s application to the Trade Remedies Authority to look at how to protect UK producers.
Downing Street said on Monday it would continue to keep “all options on the table” after the US president was reported to have told journalists on Air Force One that he has no intention of creating exemptions to his 25 per cent tariff on global steel and aluminium imports.
Asked about the comments, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “We’re engaged in pragmatic discussions with the US on securing a wider economic deal, when it comes to the global tariffs we’re assessing all options.
“As the Prime Minister said last week we’re keeping all options on the table but we’re going to take a pragmatic approach to this and we’ll be continuing to have these discussions.”
No10 comments
Asked if Reynolds would be seeking to secure an exemption, the spokesman said: “I’m not going to get ahead of his talks, but he’s going to continue these discussions on a wider economic deal with the US and that’s what we’re focused on at the moment.”
Around five per cent of UK steel exports and six per cent of aluminium exports by volume go to the US, the UK government has said, although trade bodies for both industries claim that is an underestimate of the scale of shipments across the Atlantic.
The move is the latest blow to a steel industry, which has seen thousands of job losses in recent years due to issues including global competition, high energy costs and the shift to cleaner technologies – with a wider plan for steel expected to be published this spring.