US tariffs hit UK goods
- The House of Commons Library said on April 14 that the United States now levies tariffs on most UK goods, with a 10% baseline duty and separate sector tariffs on steel, aluminum and cars. - UK officials say the May 8, 2025 U.S.-UK deal softened some pain, capping tariffs on the first 100,000 UK cars at 10% and aiming to replace steel and aluminum duties with quotas. - The dispute now centers on mitigation, not full removal, as Britain waits on partial carve-outs while most exports still face the U.S. tariff regime. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk)
Most UK goods entering the United States now face a 10% tariff, and some big UK exports face higher sector-specific duties. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) (business.gov.uk) The House of Commons Library said in a briefing published April 14, 2026 that the Trump administration has imposed tariffs on most UK goods imported into America since taking office on January 20, 2025. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The broad U.S. tariff on UK goods was announced on April 2, 2025 and took effect on April 5 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time, according to the UK government’s exporter guidance. (business.gov.uk) That 10% charge does not cover every product. UK steel, aluminum, derivative metal goods, automobiles and some auto parts were put under separate U.S. tariffs that reached 25%, the UK government said. (business.gov.uk) (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) London and Washington announced general terms for a U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal on May 8, 2025, but the agreement did not erase the baseline 10% tariff on most British exports. (whitehouse.gov) (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The clearest relief so far has been for cars. The White House and the UK government said the first 100,000 UK passenger vehicles shipped to the U.S. each year would face a 10% rate, while any additional vehicles would face 25%. (whitehouse.gov) (gov.uk) The UK government said on June 16, 2025 that this auto arrangement cut the effective U.S. tariff on covered UK car exports from 27.5% to 10%, with the quota administered quarterly. (gov.uk) Steel and aluminum are still in a holding pattern. The Commons Library said the deal could remove the current 25% rate on UK steel, aluminum and derivative goods, but only if the UK meets U.S. supply-chain security requirements. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The June 2025 UK update said both sides were still trying to create tariff-rate quotas for UK steel, aluminum and certain derivative products at most-favored-nation rates. (gov.uk) The deal also included sector swaps outside manufacturing. Britain said it would create a duty-free quota for 13,000 metric tonnes of U.S. beef and a duty-free quota for 1.4 billion liters of U.S. ethanol each year. (gov.uk) (whitehouse.gov) The House of Commons Library said pharmaceuticals can now enter the U.S. tariff-free under the deal, and aerospace tariffs are being reduced back to most-favored-nation rates under later implementation steps. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) (gov.uk) The unresolved piece is the baseline tariff on most other goods. The Commons Library said a U.S. Supreme Court decision on February 20, 2026 changed the legal basis for several U.S. tariffs, leaving it unclear whether the 10% tariff on most UK goods will stay in place or be altered. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) That leaves the U.K.-U.S. trade relationship in a narrower lane than the old free-trade talk suggested: carve-outs for cars, possible quotas for metals, and a 10% tariff still hanging over most other British exports. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk)
