AIC's Reaction to the UK-US Trade Agreement

Yesterday, a UK–US trade agreement was announced by both the UK and US administrations.

The US has agreed to eliminate the 25% tariff on British steel and aluminium.

Additionally, the 27.5% tariff on UK car exports will be reduced to 10% for up to 100,000 vehicles annually.

In exchange, the UK will remove tariffs on 1.4 billion litres of US ethanol, and both nations are free to export 13,000 tonnes of beef to each other.

The removal of the 19% UK import tariff on US ethanol appears to be the most important issue for AIC Members.

With an approximate domestic wheat demand of 850,000 tonnes for ethanol, and an output of approximately 800,000 tonnes of animal feed, AIC notes the potential impact this may have on UK domestic production.

Ethanol is an important market for UK cereal producers and an important source of animal feed for livestock farmers. The Government needs to consider how it can ensure the competitiveness of this sector is maintained.

AIC will await the full details from the government on the new trade measures and provide further insight when we receive them.