29 h. ago Starmer will not be able to have his cake and eat it with a Trump trade deal and a Brexit reset

As two hard deadlines come up in the next three months over a Trump trade deal and a Brexit reset, The Independent’s political editor David Maddox looks at why Keir Starmer may be forced to make a choice he does not want to acknowledge

Politics

33 h. ago British food and drink industry call on EU to ‘reset’ trade ties

Retailers and food producers offer to help efforts reduce ‘unnecessary red tape’ costing industry billions of poundsMore than a dozen of Britain’s biggest retailers and food producers, including Marks & Spencer, J Sainsbury and Asda, have called on the EU to reduce checks on food and drink crossing the Channel and Irish Sea, which they say are costing billions of pounds.Ahead of a summit on 19 May that is hoped to “reset” trade ties five years on from Brexit, they are urging politicians to hammer out a deal on sanitary and phytosanitary checks. They hope this would include a veterinary agreement and would harmonise food safety rules or recognise them as equivalent. Continue reading...

Politics

50 h. ago Donald Trump says there will '100% be a trade deal' with Europe after meeting with Giorgia Meloni

President boasts that he will have “little problem” securing an agreement between the US and the bloc

Politics

60 h. ago Britain could sign a trade deal with Donald Trump 'within three weeks'

Sir Keir Starmer has been pushing for an agreement with America in a bid to lower the 10 per cent tariffs on British goods imposed by the US President.

Politics

64 h. ago Can we stop pretending a trade deal with Trump will be a gamechanger for the UK. It won’t | Martin Kettle

I’m not saying Britain should refuse every sort of free trade agreement with the US, but there may be options that better suit Labour’s purposeIt’s a deal. The words sound good. Most human beings are primed to think of a deal as desirable in itself. It isn’t hard to see why. Agreement is generally better than disagreement. In most aspects of life, shaking hands under shared rules makes sense. So it takes a bit of effort to think more objectively. But it is important to do that now, especially in the case of the proposed UK trade deal with the United States.Even before Donald Trump became president again, and long before the US started its current tariff wars, there were already plenty of reasons for caution about what a free trade deal with the US might look like. In the wake of Brexit, these concerns centred on whether a deal could be struck – and sold at home – on bilateral trade issues such as pharmaceuticals, food products and digital regulation, on all of which very different s...

Politics

69 h. ago Trump's 'great' trade deal with Britain could be sealed 'in a matter of weeks'

Britain's rapid deal with the US would come after President Donald Trump pens agreements with Japan , India , and South Korea in an attempt to isolate China .

Politics

3 d. ago Starmer warned children will be at risk if he agrees to US demands to get trade deal

Revelations that vice president JD Vance is still pushing for online safety and hate speech laws to be repealed have alarmed campaigners

Events

3 d. ago ‘How dare the US attack the UK’s free speech’ Independent readers call out trade deal demands

Our community share their views on the US trade deal ultimatum, from outrage at ‘JD Vance’s demand to scrap LGBT+ protections’ to calls for Keir Starmer to ‘defend British laws, not bow to US pressure’

Economics

3 d. ago The US needs to understand that truth and trade are not interchangeable

Editorial: We must seriously question whether a deal that sacrifices truth in favour of populist, hard-right ideology is worth it

Politics

3 d. ago Visas not an issue in UK trade talks, insists India's top diplomat in London amid Trump tariff chaos

Vikram K Doraiswami stressed that his country wanted Indian companies to be able to move staff to Britain ‘more easily’ as part of an agreement, but their focus was on hiring locally

Politics

3 d. ago We don't want more visas, says India's top diplomat in London on trade deal with UK amid Trump tariff chaos

Vikram K Doraiswami stressed that his country wanted Indian companies to be able to move staff to Britain ‘more easily’ as part of an agreement, but their focus was on hiring locally

Economics

3 d. ago UK scrambles for deal to stop Trump imposing 25% tariff on medicine imports amid jobs fears

Donald Trump has said he is drawing up levies on foreign drugs, suggesting they could be 25 per cent and take effect in the 'not too distant future'.

Economics

3 d. ago Starmer told UK must repeal hate speech laws to protect LGBT+ people or lose Trump trade deal

‘Good chance’ of agreement, says JD Vance – but sources say his concerns over Britain’s hate speech laws ‘are still a red line’

Politics

4 d. ago Starmer told to accept Trump ‘free speech’ agenda to win trade deal

‘Good chance’ of agreement, says JD Vance – but sources say his concerns over Britain’s hate speech laws ‘are still a red line’

Politics

4 d. ago Starmer’s ambitions for a Trump trade deal have a big problem – JD Vance

Insiders have told The Independent that if you want to know what Trump is really thinking, listen to what JD Vance is saying. That is very bad news for Starmer, as David Maddox explains

Politics

4 d. ago Trump tariffs latest: JD Vance says good chance of UK trade deal and praises ‘cultural affinity’ with Britain

The UK has welcomed J.D. Vance’s statements, saying Britain was in a “good position” to negotiate

Economics

4 d. ago Trump tariffs live updates: Vance says good chance of UK trade deal and praises ‘cultural affinity’ with Britain

The UK has welcomed J.D. Vance’s statements, saying Britain was in a “good position” to negotiate

Economics

4 d. ago Trump tariffs live updates: Vance says good chance of UK trade deal as China warns of ‘unilateral bullying’

Trump says he can be ‘very flexible’ with tariffs

Events

4 d. ago The US is negotiating a 'great' trade deal for Britain because Trump 'really loves the UK' and 'we have a cultural affinity', JD Vance says

The UK government has been hopeful of a deal to exempt the UK from Trump's tariffs, and Vance has now said he is optimistic that both sides could come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Politics

4 d. ago JD Vance says Trump ‘working very hard’ with UK on negotiating trade deal

The UK government has been pursuing a tariff exemption deal with the US

Economics