President Donald Trump announced that the United States has finalised a trade agreement with the United Kingdom. This marks the first such deal since he halted reciprocal tariffs and started talks to reduce trade restrictions. Trump shared on social media on May 8 that "The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come," following a teaser about the news the previous evening without specifics. He added, "Because of our long-time history and allegiance together, it is a great honour to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement."

Trump is set to hold a press conference at the White House at 10 a.m. EDT on May 8 to discuss the trade agreement. On April 2, he announced retaliatory tariffs on several countries but put most of them on hold for 90 days, saying those nations were open to negotiating. Since then, administration officials have consistently stated that trade agreements are nearly finalised. Trump also noted the strong global interest in these negotiations during a meeting with Canada’s prime minister on May 6. 

"Everyone says: 'When, when, when are you going to sign deals?" Trump stated. "We don't have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now . . . if we wanted. We don't have to sign deals. They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market."

The president showed his irritation with the repeated inquiries, saying, "I wish they'd stop asking how many deals are you signing this week." Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent informed lawmakers during a committee hearing on May 6 that agreements might be finalised shortly. "I would think that perhaps as early as this week we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners," Bessent stated.

Bessent mentioned that there are 18 nations he considers "major trading partners," and discussions have already started with all of them except China. However, he noted that a meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials is now planned. On May 8, Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will head to Switzerland to meet China's "lead representative on economic matters." 

The specifics of the deal haven’t been disclosed yet. The two countries have talked about reducing UK tariffs on American cars and agricultural products, and scrapping UK taxes on U.S. tech firms. However, it's still uncertain whether the agreement has officially been sealed. Timothy C. Brightbill, an international trade lawyer at Wiley Rein, said the announcement was likely “just an agreement to start the negotiations, identifying a framework of issues to be discussed in the coming months.” “We suspect that tariff rates, nontariff barriers and digital trade are all on the list — and there are difficult issues to address on all of these,” he further said.