Chancellor Rachel Reeves has ruled out any lowering of UK import standards on food and vehicles, including chlorinated chicken, hormone-treated beef and US-made trucks, as trade talks with the Trump administration enter a critical phase.
Speaking ahead of her first official meeting with US economic officials in Washington this week, Reeves made it clear that British regulatory standards would not be up for negotiation as part of any future UK-US trade deal. “We are not going to be changing our standards based on asks from foreign governments,” she said. “Decisions around food standards, around digital services, around auto standards, are decisions for the UK government to make.”
Her comments come as President Trump’s officials push for the UK to relax rules on agricultural imports and slash its 10 per cent tariff on American-made cars to 2.5 per cent. According to a document circulated by the White House to US businesses, these demands form part of a wider set of trade ambitions being outlined ahead of formal talks.
Reeves’s firm stance on food safety was welcomed by UK farmers and consumer advocates, who have long feared that any transatlantic deal could open the door to practices banned under British law. “We are not going to be relaxing our food standards. We’ve been clear with the US and they respect that and understand that,” Reeves said, adding that the position was “off the table”.
Despite rejecting regulatory concessions, the chancellor struck a more conciliatory tone on broader trade cooperation. Speaking at a summit hosted by Semafor, she signalled that there was scope for a deal “both on tariffs and also a wider deal beyond the issue of tariffs around technology partnerships and building on the national security”.
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