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At times during weeks of thorny negotiations, the efforts of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government seemed destined to fail.
May 9, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET
For Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, the road to a first-in-the-world trade deal with the United States began on a late winter afternoon when he arrived in the Oval Office, bearing a letter for President Trump. It was from King Charles III, inviting Mr. Trump for a rare second state visit to Britain.
It ended on Thursday afternoon when Mr. Starmer was patched into the Oval Office for a theatrical, televised phone call with Mr. Trump, in which the president announced a deal that will roll back tariffs on some British exports, including autos and steel, while leaving other tariffs in place.
The deal, Mr. Trump declared, will be “so good for both countries.” Mr. Starmer, who conceded that the president’s timing had caught him off guard, said the agreement testified to the value of not being provoked by Mr. Trump’s sometimes aggressive tactics — not “slamming the door,” as he put it.
In truth, the nine weeks between Mr. Starmer’s visit in February and his phone call Thursday with Mr. Trump were a roller-coaster ride for the prime minister and his negotiators. They had to work out an agreement with an administration that seemed at times bifurcated between conventional trade negotiators and a president on whose whims and impulses the signing of any deal depended.
“As of now, this looks like quite a good result for Keir Starmer,” said Kim Darroch, who served as Britain’s ambassador to Washington during Mr. Trump’s first term. Still, he added, critics could argue that Mr. Trump had not lifted all the tariffs and might yet reverse course on elements of the agreement.
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