Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer tells workers at JLR plant in Solihull that trade deal will cut tariffs for car manufacturers as the UK-US agreement was announced on Thursday May 8
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00:02Welcome to you.
00:06Thank you, Adrian, and thank you to all of you.
00:10It was fantastic to be with you what was just a few weeks ago
00:14and really fantastic to come back.
00:17Just a few moments ago, I spoke to President Trump,
00:21the President of the United States,
00:23and I'm really pleased to announce to you,
00:26and I wanted to come to you to announce it,
00:28that we've agreed the basis of a historic economic prosperity deal,
00:35and that is a deal that will protect British businesses
00:38and save thousands of jobs in Britain,
00:42really important, skilled, well-paid jobs.
00:45It will remove tariffs of British steel and aluminium,
00:50reducing them to zero.
00:52It will provide vital assurances for our life sciences sector,
00:57so important to our economy,
01:00and grant unprecedented market access for British farmers
01:03without compromising our high standards.
01:08And for the great British cars that you make here,
01:11that we see all around us,
01:14this deal means that the US tariffs
01:16will now be cut from 27.5% down to 10%
01:21for 100,000 vehicles every year.
01:25That's a huge and important reduction.
01:28And I know from when I was last year,
01:30last here,
01:31how much that will have been weighing on your minds
01:34when you knew the size of the tariff
01:36that would otherwise be in place.
01:39And to get that decrease was hugely important to me.
01:43And I can tell you,
01:44my teams were working really hard on this deal,
01:46night and day for weeks.
01:48I was working with them.
01:50And in politics,
01:51what matters sometimes
01:52is who you have in your mind's eye
01:55when you're making these deals.
01:56Who do you have in your mind's eye
01:57when you're taking decisions?
01:59And what I took away from here last time
02:01was you and the brilliant work that you do,
02:03and had you in my mind's eye
02:05as we did that.
02:07And we've got scope now
02:08to increase that quota as we go forward.
02:11So this is not fixed.
02:12This is where we've got to.
02:14And all of these tariff cuts
02:15will come into place as soon as possible.
02:18And that's really important as well
02:20in relation to the work that you're doing
02:22and the brilliant cars that you make.
02:25And as Adrian said,
02:26I was here with you just,
02:28as I say, a few weeks ago.
02:31And I promised you
02:33that I would deliver
02:34in the national interest.
02:36And today,
02:37I'm really pleased to come back here
02:39to be able to look you in the eye
02:41and to say,
02:41I've delivered on the promise
02:42I made to you.
02:44And that's why,
02:45as soon as I knew
02:46this deal was coming in today,
02:48I said,
02:49I want to come back to JLR
02:51to talk to the workforce there
02:53for whom this means so much.
02:55Now, of course,
02:56we are the first country
02:58to secure such a deal
03:00with the United States.
03:01And in an era of global insecurity
03:04and instability,
03:05that is so important.
03:07The great challenge of our age
03:09is to secure and to renew Britain.
03:12And that is what we're going to do.
03:14Acting in the national interest,
03:16shaping this new era,
03:17not being shaped by it.
03:19If it's not good for Britain,
03:21we won't do it.
03:22If it doesn't mean more money
03:24in people's pockets,
03:25we won't do it.
03:26If it doesn't mean security and renewal
03:28in every part of the country,
03:30we won't do it.
03:32But that doesn't mean
03:33we're turning inward.
03:35Instead,
03:36we're sending a message
03:37to the world
03:38that Britain is open for business,
03:41seeking trade agreements
03:42with India on Tuesday,
03:45with the US today,
03:47and working to boost trade
03:48with other partners too,
03:50including, of course,
03:51the EU,
03:52with whom we have
03:52a really important meeting
03:54just a week on Monday,
03:56making deals
03:57that will benefit working people.