Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is being urged to maximise pressure on the US to secure relief from tariffs ahead of Donald Trump’s state visit.
The US president’s two-day trip will officially begin on Wednesday and includes an overnight stay at Windsor Castle.
This will be Mr Trump’s second state visit, an unprecedented gesture for a US president, and will mark the first time he has met with King Charles since he became monarch.
Ahead of his arrival, the Commons Business and Trade Committee said this is the moment to put pressure on Mr Trump to agree to the final terms of a so-called economic prosperity deal.
The UK and US signed a trade deal in June that reduced tariffs on car and aerospace imports to the US, but failed to agree on terms for British steel, leaving tariffs on it at 25%.
The sticking points are thought to include US concerns over steel products made elsewhere in the world, then finished in the UK.
In a report published on Sunday, the committee welcomed the government securing swift tariff relief for key sectors.
“It is however now vital that government maximises pressure on the United States, beginning and following the president’s state visit, to agree final terms for a lasting economic prosperity deal to end the threat of future sectoral tariffs, maximise predictability and that where the UK has secured terms which are second best to the EU, we aim to improve them,” they added.
Newly appointed business and trade secretary Peter Kyle said on Sunday that a tariff relief for UK steel is currently being negotiated as he vowed to make an announcement “as soon as possible”.
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