US Steel Tariff Talks Begin, But Progress Unlikely To Be Swift

Yesterday it was announced that negotiators from the UK and US gov'ts had started official negotiations over the removal of Trump-era tariffs on UK steel and aluminium imports.

• While being stated as a high priority for the UK gov't, there is a view that progress is likely to prove slow. Anna Isaac at The Independent tweets: "On US/UK steel tariffs: correct that Protocol issues haven't helped diplo links. Yet folk close to talks said sluggish progress largely due to UK being a relatively small market, rather than Northern Ireland Protocol. UK confusion of NI steel quotas did cause consternation in the US, however."
• In the Commons earlier this morning, Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan - rather than stating that the delay had been due to issues the US has with the Northern Ireland protocol - admitted that as a smaller steel market the UK had fallen behind the EU in negotiation priorities with the US.