How will the US trade deal affect UK farmers?
9th May 2025
There are concerns that two agricultural sectors have been singled out to shoulder the burden of the removal of tariffs for other industries in the economy.
The trade deal between the UK and the US, dubbed “historic” by the prime minister, includes reciprocal market access for beef, and tariffs removed on ethanol coming from the US.
The US will have access to the UK beef market through a tariff rate quota of 13,000t (shipped weight) hormone-free beef.
The UK will gain 13,000t of ring-fenced access to the US beef market. The US will also have access to 1.4 billion litres duty free ethanol.
In exchange the US has agreed to slash car export tariffs from 27.5% to 10%, applying to a quota of 100,000 UK cars.
Meanwhile the tariff on the UK steel industry was negotiated down from 25% to zero.
Trade negotiations commenced last month after Trump announced at least a 10% tariff on all imports to the US.
Concerns over hormone-treated beef
The NFU has said it appreciates the government’s efforts in securing ring-fenced access for British beef exports to the US.
However, there are concerns that hormone-treated beef could still get into the UK.
Liz Webster, a beef farmer and co-founder of Save British Farming, told the BBC the deal was a “sell-out” and that the USA had “no facility to filter out the good stuff from the bad stuff”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Surrey beef farmer Ian McCubbine agreed it would be hard to tell if any imports of beef contained added hormones.
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Impact on arable farmers
Another area of concern is the inclusion of a significant volume of bioethanol in the deal, and the impact on arable farmers.
“We’ll be engaging closely with our members to help them understand and prepare for the potential impact,” said NFU president Tom Bradshaw.
Biofuels are extremely important for the crops sector, and their domestic demand of up to 2 million tonnes can be key to balance supply and demand and to produce up to one million tonnes of animal feed as a by-product.
Opening up our ethanol market to such volume could translate into the loss of this profitable outlet for our arable growers.
Tom added: “Our biggest concern is that two agricultural sectors have been singled out to shoulder the heavy burden of the removal of tariffs for other industries in the economy.
“While we understand this, we also know that today is the start, not the end, of a process and UK agriculture cannot continue to shoulder such imbalances in future negotiations.”
Relief over chlorinated chicken
The British Poultry Council, however, welcomed the news that poultry will not be included in the deal.
Chief executive Richard Griffiths said: “This is the right call made for the right reason. It is good to see Government standing firm on British food standards.
“Excluding chicken from a UK-US trade deal demonstrates a commitment to the responsibility and transparency that defines British poultry meat production.”
BPC urged the government to champion British food standards across all areas, including ongoing talks with the EU to secure an SPS Agreement.
How have the opposition leaders reacted?
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the agreement, saying on X: ‘When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. We cut our tariffs — America tripled theirs. Keir Starmer called this ‘historic.’ It’s not historic, we’ve just been shafted!’
However, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “We’re heading in the right direction and we have an American president who’s pro-Britain.”
Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said on X: ‘Even after today’s deal, Trump’s terrible tariffs will still be hitting British jobs and businesses hard. The only way we will end Trump’s damaging trade war is by standing tough with our allies across Europe and the Commonwealth.’
Work will continue on the remaining sectors – such as pharmaceuticals and remaining reciprocal tariffs. The US also agreed that the UK will get preferential treatment in any further tariffs imposed as part of Section 232 investigations.
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