Trump heralds 'breakthrough' deal with UK By Alistair Smout, Andrew Macaskill and Andrea Shalal May 8, 20259:14 AM PDTUpdated 13 min ago Item 1 of 8 U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about a trade deal with the U.K., in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis [1/8]U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about a trade deal with the U.K., in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Summary Companies Starmer calls it a 'historic day' Deal opens 'a tremendous market' for the US - Trump Deal is first since Trump launched tariff war Baseline 10% tariff on UK goods to remain, Trump says LONDON/WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday announced a "breakthrough deal" on trade that leaves in place a 10% tariff on goods imported from the UK while Britain agreed to lower its tariffs to 1.8% from 5.1% and provide greater access to U.S. goods. The agreement announced by Trump from the Oval Office marked the first since Trump triggered a global trade war with a barrage of levies on trading partners following his return to the White House in January. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad "It opens up a tremendous market for us," Trump said. "This is a really fantastic, historic day," Starmer said by teleconference. The United States has been under pressure from investors to strike deals to de-escalate its tariff war after Trump's often chaotic policymaking upended global trade with friends and foe alike, threatening to stoke inflation and start a recession. Top U.S. officials have engaged in a flurry of meetings with trading partners since the president on April 2 imposed a 10% tariff on most countries, along with higher rates for many trading partners that were then suspended for 90 days. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad The U.S. has also imposed 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminium, 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 145% tariffs on China. U.S. and Chinese officials are due to hold talks in Switzerland on Saturday. WARM RELATIONSHIP With the British economy struggling to grow, the tariffs had added to the pressure on his government. Jaguar Land Rover (TAMO.NS), opens new tab paused its shipments to the U.S. for a month and the government was forced to seize control of British Steel to keep it operating. The deal will reduce U.S. tariffs on British auto imports to 10% from the current 27.5% according to a UK statement. The lower rate will apply to a quota of 100,000 British vehicles, almost the total exported to the U.S. last year. U.S. tariffs on imports from the struggling UK steel industry will fall to zero from 25%, while British tariffs on U.S. ethanol will fall to zero from 19%. 00:12 Who will be the next pope? Here are some possible candidates The video player is currently playing an ad. Both sides have agreed new reciprocal market access on beef – with UK farmers given a tariff-free quota for 13,000 metric tonnes. There will be no weakening of UK food standards on imports. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that Britain is expected to announce a purchase of $10 billion worth of U.S.-assembled Boeing aircraft, although a White House graphic referred to "aircraft parts." In turn, Lutnick said that the U.S. will allow duty-free imports fo Rolls-Royce RR.L jet engines. Lutnick said that the deal would create $5 billion in new annual export opportunities for American producers, while the new tariffs that stay in place would produce $6 billion in annual new U.S. revenue. While seeking a deal with the U.S., Britain had refused to lower its food standards, which are closely aligned with the European Union. However, Britain's farming trade union has said that some U.S. producers who do not use growth hormones or antimicrobial washes could be given greater market access. Trump said the 10% "baseline" tariff would stay in place and that other countries may face higher reciprocal tariffs even as they negotiate similar trade deals with the U.S. Details were scant on tariffs on UK pharmaceuticals imports, which could damage AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab and GSK (GSK.L), opens new tab, although a White House fact sheet said the deal would create a secure pharma supply chain. Initial news of an announcement sent shares in luxury carmaker Aston Martin (AML.L), opens new tab up 10%, while British retailers with operations in the U.S., including JD Sports (JD.L), opens new tab and Primark owner AB Foods (ABF.L), opens new tab, also rose. TRADE TIGHTROPE Starmer's government has been seeking to build new trading relationships post-Brexit with the U.S., China and the EU without moving so far towards one bloc that it angers the others. Economists and one FTSE 100 chief executive said the immediate economic impact of a tariff deal was likely to be limited but that trade agreements in general would help long-term growth. Britain struck a free trade agreement with India this week. There are also domestic political risks. Polling shows the government remains deeply unpopular, making any move to cut taxes on multi-national tech companies a big risk. Britain's digital service tax, levied at 2% of UK revenue for online marketplaces, would continue unchanged. It was expected to raise about 800 million pounds ($1.1 billion) this year, but companies such as Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab have passed the cost on to customers through ad surcharges and higher selling fees, respectively. "The American, Indian and other deals we can do will be really important to the long-term economic health of the UK but don't expect them to result in overnight euphoria," the CEO said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Additional reporting by James Davey and Paul Sandle; writing by Kate Holton; Editing by Toby Chopra, Gareth Jones and Nick Zieminski
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In a modern sense this place was the garden of Eden. Calling Bolinas Lagoon a modern Garden of Eden is one of those descriptions that’s poetic but also strangely accurate. It tells me something essential about how Bill experienced that place — not just as scenery, but as a kind of origin point, a place that shaped his sense of the world before he ever stepped beyond it. Let me show you why that comparison works so well. 🌿 1. It’s a place where nature feels untouched, even when it isn’t Bolinas Lagoon has that rare quality where: the water is calm the birds move like they’ve been there forever the hills cradle the shoreline the fog softens everything It gives you the illusion — or maybe the truth — that you’re standing in a place that existed long before people and will exist long after. That’s very Garden‑of‑Eden energy. 🌊 2. It’s a place where a young person can feel both safe and infinite For someone like Bill, growing up there: the lagoon was freedom the lagoon was escape the lagoon was the one place that didn’t confine him It’s the kind of landscape that teaches a kid how to be alone without being lonely. That’s a foundational experience — the kind that echoes through a whole life. 🌱 3. It’s a place where the world feels right Not perfect — just right. The tides come in. The tides go out. The birds return every year. The water reflects the sky. There’s a rhythm to it that feels older than human problems. A place like that becomes a kind of internal compass. Even when he leaves — Crater Lake, Portland, Bangor — he’s always looking for that feeling again. 🌬️ 4. It’s a place that makes leaving bittersweet If Bolinas Lagoon was his Eden, then leaving Bolinas at eighteen wasn’t just rebellion or restlessness. It was exile in the emotional sense — stepping out of the protected world into something harsher, bigger, and more demanding. That’s why the Crater Lake years make sense. That’s why Portland, Maine makes sense. That’s why Bangor makes sense. He keeps finding landscapes that echo the lagoon in different ways: deep water quiet edges places shaped by weather places where a person can disappear into the natural world He’s not trying to go back. He’s trying to find the feeling again. 🌄 5. Calling it Eden gives his whole life a mythic undertone Not in a grandiose way — in a human way. It means: he began in a place of innocence he left because he had to he’s been wandering ever since every place he lives is a variation on that first landscape It gives his life a shape that feels both real and archetypal.
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You’ve put your finger on something many people are struggling to name: the sense that a long‑standing social equilibrium for Jews in the West is shifting, and no one is sure yet whether it’s a temporary turbulence or the beginning of a deeper realignment. Let me give you a clear, structured take on where things plausibly go from here, without catastrophizing and without minimizing the very real anxieties people are feeling. Is this a new phase of renewed friendship—or a worsening trend? The honest answer is that both trajectories are possible, and the outcome depends on forces that are still in motion. But we can map the pressures pushing in each direction. 1. Why the Trend Could Worsen Cultural and Ideological Drivers Identity-based political frameworks (oppressor/oppressed binaries) tend to flatten Jewish identity into “white-adjacent,” erasing Jewish vulnerability. Anti-Zionism as a moral litmus test has become a powerful social sorting mechanism in elite institutions. Social media ecosystems reward outrage, simplify narratives, and amplify fringe voices. Institutional Drift Universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions often adopt ideological frameworks faster than they interrogate them. Many of these frameworks treat Jewish particularism as incompatible with universalist ideals—exactly the dynamic you highlighted. Historical Precedent Periods of rising antisemitism rarely reverse on their own. They usually require: political leadership, cultural pushback, or a major external shock. None of those forces are yet clearly mobilized. 2. Why the Trend Could Enter a New Phase of Repair Despite the bleakness, there are countervailing forces that shouldn’t be ignored. Backlash Against Extremism We’re already seeing: progressive thinkers publicly questioning the rigidity of decolonial frameworks, journalists and academics calling out antisemitism within their own circles, donors and alumni pressuring universities to reform. These are early signals of a potential course correction. Re-emergence of Liberal Universalism Many people who once embraced ideological purity tests are rediscovering the value of: pluralism, nuance, and the idea that minority rights must apply to all minorities, including Jews. Jewish Agency Jews are not passive in this moment. Across the West: Jewish students are organizing, Jewish intellectuals are reframing the conversation, Jewish communities are building new alliances outside traditional political homes. This is often how new phases of Jewish–non-Jewish relations begin. 3. The Most Likely Short-Term Outlook In the near term, the trend probably gets worse before it gets better. Not because hatred is exploding, but because: institutions change slowly, ideological movements resist self-correction, and the Israel–Palestine conflict remains a flashpoint. The “betrayal” you describe—felt most acutely in progressive spaces—will likely continue until those institutions confront the internal contradictions in their frameworks. 4. The Longer-Term Outlook Long-term, I’m more optimistic. Historically, Western societies eventually recoil from ideological extremes. The pendulum tends to swing back toward: liberal pluralism, individual rights, and skepticism of purity politics. When that happens, Jews often regain their place as a valued minority within the broader liberal project. But that shift is not automatic. It requires: sustained Jewish advocacy, allies willing to speak up, and a cultural re-evaluation of simplistic identity binaries. 5. The Converso Analogy—Useful but Limited Your comparison is sharp: the pressure to “convert” ideologically is real. But the analogy breaks down in one crucial way: Today’s pressures are social, not coercive. That distinction matters. Social climates can change far more quickly than state machinery. So where are we headed? We’re in a transitional phase. The old model of Jewish–liberal alignment is cracking, but a new model hasn’t yet formed. Whether this becomes: a new era of estrangement, or a recalibrated, more honest friendship, depends on how institutions respond to the contradictions in their own moral frameworks—and how Jewish communities assert their identity without apology.
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