WASHINGTON — On May 8, the 80th anniversary of V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day marking the end of World War II in Europe) the United States and the United Kingdom announced a new trade deal between the two nations.
President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer jointly announced the new trade arrangements that will have a focus on U.S. agriculture, ethanol, and beef.
“The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol, and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers,” Trump said. “The U.K. will reduce or eliminate numerous non-tariff barriers that unfairly discriminated against American products. This is now turning out to be, really, a great deal for both countries.”
Starmer added that, “This is going to boost trade between and across our countries. It’s going to not only protect jobs, but create jobs, opening market access.”
The announcement notes that this deal will create potentially $5 billion in new exports for American producers, farmers, and ranchers.
“We support the administration’s goal of expanding export opportunities for U.S. agricultural products,” Tom Super, the National Chicken Council’s senior vice president of public affairs, said. “We look forward to seeing the final details of the deal and continue to urge that U.S. chicken be included in this deal, and hopefully many more to come.”
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall added that the Farm Bureau, “appreciates the work between the administration and the United Kingdom to secure a new trade agreement. We have long advocated for new trade deals, and this is an important first step in expanding markets in the four countries. More work is needed, however, to remove the arbitrary barriers that have excluded American-grown food from grocery stores in the U.K.”
“America’s farmers and ranchers grow the safest and most affordable food in the world,” Duvall added. “We’re encouraged by progress to create market opportunities for farmers. We urge the administration to build on this success to pursue more trade agreements, and resolve current disputes, so farmers can continue to feed families here at home and overseas.”
This new U.S./U.K. trade deal will have an impact on U.S. corn growers, as it’s reported to include more than $700 million in U.S. ethanol exports. The National Corn Growers Association notes that the U.K. is the second largest market for U.S. ethanol with 244 million gallons, which accounted for 12.7 percent of the nation’s total 2024 ethanol exports. This trade announcement also adds that U.K. tariffs on U.S. ethanol will be reduced to zero.
“This is great news,” Kenneth Hartman Jr., NCGA president, said. “We applaud President Trump and his administration for brokering this deal, and we encourage them to continue to include corn, corn ethanol and corn co-products in future bilateral agreements with other countries.”
The value of the trade deal to U.S. beef and other agricultural products is noted as $250 million. This deal also made specific mention of increasing opportunities for beef.
“With this trade deal, President Trump has delivered a tremendous win for American family farmers and ranchers,” Buck Wehrbein, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president, said. “For years, American cattle producers have seen the United Kingdom as an ideal partner for trade. Between our countries’ shared history, culture, and their desire for high-quality American beef, securing a trade agreement is a natural step forward.”
There are also potential opportunities for small- to medium-sized companies to benefit from a bilateral U.S./U.K. trade deal. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notes that the two nations recently held the 9th U.S.-U.K. Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise Dialogue in Charlotte, N.C.
“The trade relationship between the U.S. and U.K. amounts to over $300 billion and $1.7 trillion invested in each other’s economies,” the USTR office said in a statement. “Around 90 percent of U.S. exporters to the U.K. are small- and medium-sized firms, with just over 26,000 small businesses across the 50 states exporting $20.3 billion in goods to the United Kingdom.”
