President Trump on Thursday touted how a trade agreement with the United Kingdom would benefit the British car industry, particularly luxury brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
As part of a trade deal announced in the Oval Office, the U.S. agreed to lower tariffs on British car imports from 25 percent to 10 percent.
“We took it from 25 to 10 on Rolls Royce, because Rolls Royce is not going to be built here. I wouldn’t even ask them to do that,” Trump said. “It’s a very special car, and it’s a very limited number, too. It’s not one of the, one of the monster car companies that makes millions of cars. They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury, and that includes Bentley and Jaguar.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that the United Kingdom sends roughly 100,000 cars into the United States annually, a small percentage of the total number of cars the country imports.
“But for the U.K. auto people, this is tens of thousands of jobs that the president agreed that he would protect for them,” Lutnick said.
Trump and British officials on Thursday announced a trade agreement that is still being finalized, but that both sides touted as beneficial for their respective economies.
Trump said it includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture by increasing access to U.S. beef, ethanol and other farming products. He also said the U.K. will reduce non-tariff barriers that discriminate against U.S. products, and the U.K. will fast-track American goods through customs process.
The auto industry has been at the center of Trump’s tariff policies in recent months as he has imposed sweeping tariffs on all imports, as well as targeted duties on steel and aluminum and cars.
Trump last week signed an order to scale back the 25 percent tariffs he had announced on imported automobiles and auto parts.
The administration will also allow automakers to apply for 15 percent price offsets in the first year of the tariffs and a 10 percent offset in the second year in a bid to get companies to increase domestic production of automobiles.
