While Thursday’s trade agreement with the United Kingdom might give United States President Donald Trump a political boost, it is unlikely to shift China’s stance in trade talks with senior US officials this weekend, analysts said.
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Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said the US-UK trade deal – which kept Washington’s 10 per cent tariffs on imports from Britain in place while offering increased agricultural access and easing steep duties on UK car shipments – had given Trump “some momentum moving forward”.
“It’s given him a bit of a lift and you can see the markets are also responding positively, but the markets are looking for anything to respond to,” he said.
James Chin, professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania, said the US-UK deal was largely symbolic.
“UK is first off the rack,” he said. “It’s not a major trading partner, but the UK one is very important because it holds a very large symbolism that if you come to the US we can cut a deal.”
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However, as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer prepare to meet Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Geneva on Saturday for talks viewed by many as, at most, an overture for a future deal, analysts doubt the US-UK trade deal will have any meaningful bearing on negotiations with China.
