UK seeks post-Brexit trade deal with US

The UK has announced a new approach to US tariffs, ending the longest trade dispute in history.

Tension surrounding the Boeing Airbus dispute escalated with the US raising import tax on British luxury goods, including cashmere, wool and linen products following the World Trade Organisation ruling that the US could punish European countries for subsidising the manufacture of the Airbus fleet.

With the UK government suspending retaliatory tariffs resulting from the Boeing dispute it shows the UK is serious about reaching a negotiated outcome, the Government said in a statement.

Helen Brocklebank, Chief Executive of Walpole, said: “Walpole welcomes the UK Government’s determination to de-escalate the transatlantic trade disputes that led to producers of cashmere, wool, linen products and single malt whisky being drawn into a situation which was not of their making. The plans to suspend punitive tariffs against the US over aircraft subsidies are a significant olive branch and one that I very much hope the new administration will reciprocate.”

She added: “The trade dispute over Boeing/Airbus has had a tremendously damaging impact on these businesses’ ability to export to the US – this harms them and it harms customers and businesses in the USA. North America accounts for 20 to 25 percent of British luxury brands’ exports and 75 percent of British luxury brands identify the region as the priority international growth market. Nobody benefits in a trade war. There is a long history of British and American luxury sector collaboration and co-investment, notably by whisky producers. British luxury brands have invested significantly in the US market, supporting job creation, media spend and capital investment. We very much want this will continue and that can only be done if this dispute is stopped in its tracks”