The UK are making it very clear to the Americans that they wish to drop the tariffs imposed on the United States as soon as they can and come to a trading arrangement as soon as possible.
This is a clear sign of the potential power of being able to trade independently. It will be interesting to see how the steel tariffs, imposed by President Trump, will be addressed in a reciprocal manner. UK steel employs 32,000 people directly, with a further 52,300 in the supply chain, contributing over £2 billion to the UK economy in 2017.
British Steel exports to the US plummeted 20% since the tariffs were imposed. The economic headwinds of 2020 have put greater pressure on US customers to source in-country, with the US experiencing a steel boom of late. The US ranked 4th in the world in 2019 producing 87.9m metric tons, with the UK ranked 23rd at 7.2m.