‘Most economically illiterate’: Trump’s math-challenged Commerce Secretary thinks Americans won’t notice paying same tariff after UK trade deal

A proposed trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K., announced with great enthusiasm by the Trump administration, has faced heavy criticism. Although presented as a major achievement, the agreement keeps the 10% tariffs on all British goods sold to the United States. This means Americans have to pay higher prices with no real benefit.

The deal, which is still weeks away from being finalized, is meant to strengthen the relationship between the two countries. It includes some lowered tariffs on specific British products like cars, steel, and aluminum, but the broad 10% tax on all exports remains in place. This means American businesses importing goods will keep paying this tax, likely pushing prices up.

The administration has claimed success by pointing out that the 10% tariff stayed the same before and after negotiations. Congressman Justin Amash pointed out that the “deal” changed nothing for Americans paying for products. Amash said on X, “We have some of the most economically illiterate people in the world in charge of trade policy.”

U.K. and U.S. deal changes nothing for tariffs

The deal offers no real benefits for American consumers. Since the 10% tariff stays in place, American importers will keep paying extra costs, which will likely mean higher prices for buyers, possibly making inflation worse.

The situation is especially confusing because the U.S. had a $12 billion trade surplus with the UK the year before. A trade surplus means the U.S. sold more to the UK than it bought from them. This makes the decision to impose widespread tariffs in the first place seem odd, since those tariffs were supposed to target countries that sell more to the U.S. than they buy. The deal does nothing to fix this trade imbalance.

Some of the specific tariff cuts include a small allowance for British car imports. The deal would let 100,000 cars enter the U.S. with the 10% tariff, but any additional cars would face a much steeper 27.5% tax. While the administration praised the lower tariffs on some British goods, the fact that the 10% tax still applies to nearly everything makes these small reductions almost meaningless.

Other parts of the deal involve the UK agreeing to buy large amounts of American products. This reportedly includes a USD 10 billion order of Boeing airplanes from a UK airline that was not named and more imports of American beef and ethanol. However, this part of the deal could run into trouble.

American beef is often raised using growth hormones, which are not allowed in the UK or the EU. British farmers have strongly protested against importing beef made with these hormones, saying it would threaten their food safety standards. These differences in food rules have caused problems in past talks between the two countries and remain a big hurdle to finishing the deal.