During an outdoor event with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 Summit in the Canadian Rockies, President Trump accidentally dropped a copy of a US-UK trade agreement on Monday.
As he began addressing journalists, Trump revealed the document but quickly let it slip from his hands due to the wind.
Starmer promptly picked it up and tucked it back into an envelope.
“My apologies—there’s quite a breeze today!” Trump remarked.
“We just signed it, and it’s finalized. So we have a trade agreement with the European Union. It’s a fair deal for both parties, expected to create a lot of jobs and income. We have even more on the way,” he added.
It seems Trump momentarily confused Britain with the European Union in his comments. The deal comes just ahead of a looming 50% tariff rate, which is set to be implemented on July 9th.
The text of the agreement, which Trump referenced, was made available shortly after, outlining extensive tariff arrangements that were announced on May 8th via the White House website.
Starmer became the first world leader to finalize a bilateral trade agreement with Trump following the “mutual” tariffs established on April 2.
While the deal preserves Trump’s new 10% baseline tariffs, it ensures some exemptions from the 25% tariffs on foreign-made vehicles and 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Notably, the agreement states that 100,000 British vehicles will be exempt from the 25% tariffs, and there will be a reduction in the 10% tariff rate.
It also outlines future allocations for steel and aluminum exempt from Trump’s tariffs, with particular mention of specialized treatment for aircraft components.
However, the document doesn’t provide clarity on some key issues for US negotiators, such as proposed regulatory adjustments to increase imports of meat and ethanol.
The agreement highlights billions of dollars in market access for American exports, especially in beef and ethanol, while the UK is set to reduce or eliminate various non-tariff barriers that have been seen as unfair to American products, potentially jeopardizing US manufacturing and national security.
