Does the UK actually have the upper hand with Trump right now?

Keir Starmer has been chasing an economic agreement with the States for months – and Donald Trump’s tariff chaos may ironically have just given the UK the upper hand.

The Labour government had initially hoped that a trade deal could exempt Britain from Trump’s import taxes, thereby avoiding the worst of a global trade war.

The early signs were good. Speaking as Starmer visited the White House in February, the president said: “I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great friendly countries, I think we could end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary.”

Sadly, as is so often the case, Trump was not as good as his word.

With negotiations between British and American officials still going on, Trump announced he was slapping tariffs on just about every country in the world – including the UK.

Along with a host of other nations, a 10% tax was slapped on all imports from the UK.

There was a boost for Starmer earlier this week, however, when vice president JD Vance said there was a “good chance” of a UK-US trade deal.

Some argue this is a sign that the ball is now in the UK’s court, given the battering America’s reputation has taken since Trump’s tariffs sparked chaos on the stock markets around the world.

The BBC’s economics editor Faisal Islam wrote on X that the “US right now needs a deal with UK MORE than the other........

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