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British entrepreneurs and business owners remain in scope as plans to support small businesses “remains unknown” following the announcement of a US-UK trade agreement.
The agreement announced Thursday was described by US President Donald Trump as a “groundbreaking economic deal” between the two countries. However, that included reduced punitive tariffs on automobile and steel exports, but did not reverse the 10% collection of flats applied to most goods, making the final scope of the transaction limited to the UK business sector.
The Small Business Federation, a trade group, said SMEs are reporting “low confidence” as they are forced to carry out “damage management” in the aftermath of the chaos caused by Trump’s April 2nd tariff announcement.
Tina Mackenzie, FSB Policy Chair, said: “We welcome the fact that the first US-UK economic agreement has been achieved.
“However, there is a high possibility that there will be a wide range of tariffs, so we need to review the plans to boost small business trade. That remains unknown.”
Mackenzie said small businesses have faced widespread disruption since the tariffs were injected. “They were dealing with reduced demand for products and had to cut their scope.
Mackenzie’s ideas were echoed by Lucy Monks, director of international affairs at FSB. Lucy Monks added that it was “difficult” after seeing the continued barriers put in place last month due to the introduction of tariffs.
The Bank of England downgraded some of its UK economic forecasts this week due to tensions in global trade. In a speech Friday, Gov. Andrew Bailey said: “When we travel around the UK, companies say, “we are delaying our investment because we are so uncertain about what the world will look like.”
However, for large companies, the initial deal has been welcomed as a sign of improved trade relations with the US, and while the UK Chamber of Commerce has said many companies will meet the news with a “big sigh of bailout,” it has admitted that pushes are needed to support all sectors.
“This should not be the end of the process. We must continue to promote discussions of free and fair trading in all economic sectors, and tariffs are the losing position.”
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Andreas Adamides, CEO of Antrepreneur Network Helm, was optimistic about the deal. “For UK businesses, this contract opens the floodgates of opportunities previously curtailed by tariffs and regulatory friction.”
“Removing the customs deficit means that UK innovation will move more efficiently than the world’s largest economy, creating a powerful flow that lifts businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” he added.
Speaking to workers at the Jaguar Land Rover Factory in the West Midlands on Thursday, British Prime Minister Kielstarmer said the deal was the start of the process. “This saved jobs, won jobs, but we didn’t do the job and our team will continue to work under this contract,” he said.
