Today's Edition
(AGENCIES)
US stock indexes extended gains on Thursday after President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Britain, his first since he paused tariffs in April.
Britain agreed to lower its tariffs to 1.8% from 5.1% and provide greater access to US goods as part of the agreement, while a 10% baseline tariff on UK goods imported into the U.S. remains in place.
Trump also said ahead of planned meetings over the weekend that tariffs on China could not get higher than the 145% already imposed.
Digital services
Britain's digital services tax - imposed on US companies like Amazon, Google and Meta - will however remain unchanged under the terms of the trade deal agreed between the two countries on Thursday, the British government said.
US President Donald Trump has been strongly critical of digital services taxes, which have been introduced by around 20 countries, saying they were "designed to plunder American companies".
Britain's tax is levied at 2% of the revenue earned by big tech companies in the country.
"The Digital Services Tax remains unchanged as part of today's deal," the British government said in a statement.
"Instead the two nations have agreed to work on a digital trade deal that will strip back paperwork for British firms trying to export to the US - opening the UK up to a huge market that will put rocket boosters on the UK economy."
Other products
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said Thursday a trade deal with Britain would "dramatically" increase exports of beef and other products to the UK, with American farmers standing to benefit.
"The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture," Trump told reporters after announcing the deal.
The pact would "dramatically increase access for American beef, ethanol and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers," he added.
