Starmer Abandons Plan for 0% US Tariffs on UK Steel Ahead of Trump State Visit

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been forced to abandon a proposal to secure a 0% US tariff on British steel exports after White House officials declined to implement the measure, British government sources said, in a development that emerged on the eve of President Donald Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom.

The plan, announced by the prime minister in May as part of a broader trade package covering cars and steel, had been the focus of months of lobbying by UK officials in Washington. Those efforts failed to persuade the White House and US trade authorities that a zero-rate on British steel would not open a back-door route for cheaper Chinese imports into the American market, according to the sources.

Officials said the zero-tariff element of the deal has been shelved and the government is now concentrating on securing a permanent 25% tariff for UK steel — a level they described as half the rate paid by the rest of the world. Downing Street officials spent recent days in Washington attempting to revive the zero-rate proposal but concluded it was not politically or technically deliverable, the sources added.

A government spokesman said securing a guaranteed 25% rate would provide the sector with greater certainty about access to the US market. "We will continue to press for the best possible terms for UK industry," the spokesman said.

Opposition figures and industry representatives reacted sharply to the reversal. Conservative trade spokesman Andrew Griffith said the prime minister had wrongly claimed credit for negotiating a zero tariff. "Now it turns out that was untrue and it's actually 25 per cent," Griffith said. "Either his maths or his relationship with the truth clearly needs some work."

Gareth Stace, director of industry body UK Steel, said it was vital that the government put in place safeguards to prevent the dumping of cheap foreign steel in the UK. He called for clarity and firm guarantees from ministers on measures to protect the domestic sector.

The collapse of the zero-tariff proposal comes as Mr Trump arrived in the UK for his second state visit, having been hosted at Buckingham Palace in 2019. The president said ahead of his arrival that the trip would be focused on spending time with King Charles at Windsor Castle and on discussing trade. "Charles, who's now king, is my friend. I'm there also on trade. I'm into helping them. But primarily, it's to be with King Charles and Camilla," Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump was due to attend a day of ceremonial events before travelling to the prime minister's country residence at Chequers for talks with Mr Starmer. The two leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues, including technology deals, the Gaza conflict, the war in Ukraine, the recent sacking of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, Net Zero policy and questions around free speech in the UK, officials said.

The May announcement of the trade package was framed by the government as a "historic" breakthrough expected to protect jobs in Britain's steel industry. With the zero-rate plan now abandoned, ministers say a permanent 25% tariff would nonetheless offer a predictable regime for exporters and reduce uncertainty about future market access.

Negotiations with Washington are likely to continue while the two leaders meet in the coming days. Whitehall sources said the UK delegation would press for durable safeguards for the steel sector and for wider improvements to the trade package, but acknowledged substantive progress would depend on US internal politics and trade policy calculations in Washington.

The decision to drop the zero-tariff goal underscores the technical and political limits of securing tariff reductions in a system where national security, domestic industry protection and concerns about third-country circumvention of safeguards remain central to US trade policymaking. UK ministers said they would set out further details on the revised approach to steel tariffs after concluding talks in the coming days.