America First, Britain Boosted: Inside the US-UK Deal Reshaping Trans-Atlantic Trade
Global Britain was supposed to be the grand plan—Britain’s post-EU renaissance, unshackled and sovereign. What we got instead was Brexit-in-name-only: biro in hand, filling out customs forms with suppressed rage.
But now, with the UK-India Free Trade Agreement signed with New Delhi on May 6, and the US-UK Economic Prosperity Agreement inked with Washington on May 8, Britain’s post-Brexit strategy is beginning to acquire strategic depth.
The US-UK Economic Prosperity Agreement
The US-UK Economic Prosperity Agreement is not a full-spectrum free trade treaty, but it is the most significant commercial pact between the two countries since Britain left the EU.
The agreement eliminates tariffs on UK steel and aluminium exports to the US, and slashes duties on British cars from 27.5% to 10%, up to an annual quota of 100,000 vehicles. Aerospace exports, crucial to Britain’s advanced manufacturing sector, will now move into the US market tariff-free. Other key industrial exports—aircraft parts, metals, precision components—will see faster customs clearance and streamlined treatment under US trade law.
In return, Britain has agreed to increase tariff-free quotas for American beef, 13,000 tons, up from 1,000, and loosened its grip on some product standards. UK negotiators held the line on the digital services tax, which remains at 2% despite US complaints.
Washington benefits modestly but deliberately. The deal strengthens America’s supply chains across the Atlantic without relying on Brussels. It expands market access for politically sensitive US exports like beef. And it enables President Donald Trump to portray himself as not only a punisher of rivals but a rewarder of allies. All this, without needing congressional ratification.
London gains more. Labour, having inherited Brexit after years of disdain, has now scored its first meaningful post-EU win. The tariff cuts safeguard high-value industrial jobs, particularly in sectors vital to domestic political sentiment. UK aerospace, an often-overlooked export powerhouse, receives a major boost.
Strategically, the agreement reaffirms that bilateralism need not mean isolation. Economically, it shows that Britain can still forge deals with superpowers, without rerunning Brussels’s model.
Crucially, the structure of the deal is incremental and reviewable—avoiding the rigidity that doomed TTIP and other mega-agreements. It is grounded in common law principles, favouring flexibility and precedent over codified supranational frameworks, and marking a deliberate rupture with the static, regulation-heavy model of EU treaties, delivering a more adaptive model of trade liberalisation, one better suited to 21st-century volatility.
President Trump and the Revival of the Anglosphere
The US-UK Economic Prosperity Agreement, which had languished in limbo during the four years of Joe Biden, has suddenly accelerated under the influence of President Trump. His vision to support rebuilding and reinforcing the Anglosphere, a bloc of English-speaking, democratic nations, has provided the impetus for the deal. President Trump’s approach to foreign policy, characterized by a preference for bilateral agreements over multilateral structures, played a key role in breaking the deadlock. With a focus on forging strong, independent relationships with allies rather than relying on institutions like the EU or UN, President Trump saw the UK as a critical partner in reshaping global trade dynamics. His push for an “America First” policy also aligned with Britain’s post-Brexit strategy, making the deal not just economically beneficial but politically charged, signalling a rebirth of Anglo-American ties and a shared vision of global influence.
The UK-India Free Trade Agreement
The UK-India Free Trade Agreement marks a breakthrough in Britain’s re-entry to the Indo-Pacific. It eliminates or reduces tariffs on a wide range of goods, including Scotch whisky, cars, and machinery, sectors where Britain holds comparative advantages. India, in turn, gains improved access for textiles, rice, and pharmaceutical exports. The agreement includes flexible rules of origin and mutual recognition of professional qualifications, with potential benefits for British legal and financial services. For London, this is not just an economic pact but a political gesture to align more closely with the fastest-growing major economy. For New Delhi, the deal strengthens its position as a manufacturing alternative to China and deepens trade links with a G7 partner without entangling regulatory oversight. Unlike EU-style arrangements, this agreement allows each side to retain regulatory autonomy, even as it lowers barriers to entry and fosters investment across key sectors.
India’s Breakaway from BRICS and J.D. Vance’s Influence
The UK-India Free Trade Agreement has evolved through years of negotiations, with the City of London playing a crucial role in pushing for a deal that would open up key markets for British financial services. From early talks, the focus was on removing barriers to trade in sectors where the UK holds competitive advantages, such as financial services, technology, and advanced manufacturing. However, key stumbling blocks emerged, particularly around visa access for Indian professionals and the protection of certain sectors in India. The breakthrough came when both sides found common ground: India secured better access for its IT and textile sectors, while the UK managed to protect its intellectual property and financial services, with a commitment to facilitate smoother movement of skilled workers. These negotiations were driven by the mutual recognition of strategic interests—Britain’s desire for stronger ties with a fast-growing economy in the Indo-Pacific, and India’s need to break free from BRICS, a group increasingly dominated by China’s ambitions and Russia’s geopolitical baggage, to pursue stronger ties with Western economies and assert its strategic autonomy. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long seen the deal as necessary to position New Delhi as an emerging power, rather than part of the Global South.
The UK-India trade deal bears the hallmarks of the Trump administration’s reshaped global strategy, now extended under Vice President J.D. Vance’s influence. His 2025 visit to New Delhi, framed as a diplomatic charm offensive, aligned closely with Washington’s efforts to weaken China’s grip on Western supply chains. The timing was no coincidence: Apple’s decision to pivot manufacturing to India followed swiftly, signalling a broader realignment. The UK, eager to position itself as a post-Brexit bridge between the US and Indo-Pacific markets, has effectively slotted into this new architecture. The deal it struck with India, ostensibly independent, echoes a pattern unmistakably shaped in Washington.
Straddling Two Worlds
Taken together, the FTA with India and the deal with the USA, have implications that are geopolitical as much as economic. Britain now stands with a special relationship in the West, anchored in defence, technology, and capital and another in the East, grounded in growth, demographics, and market expansion. These two alignments are not mutually exclusive. Together, they form a scaffold for a leaner but more strategic British trade policy—one rooted less in bloc politics and more in national interest.
The gist of it is that Britain has stopped auditioning to rejoin Brussels and started building a commercial empire of its own. For all its critics, Brexit may yet be remembered not as a divorce from Europe, but as a bet on the Anglosphere, and the chips are finally starting to fall into place. The UK owes President Trump no small debt for reshaping the strategic conditions that made these agreements possible.
Bepi Pezzulli is a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales specializing in Governance as well as a Councillor of the Great British PAC. He tweets at @bepipezzulli
TheLastRefuge, with permission.
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