US Vice-President JD Vance said there was a “good chance” a trade deal could be reached with the UK, as the dust continues to settle from America’s global trade shakeup.
“We’re certainly working very hard with Keir Starmer’s government,” Vance said in an interview on Monday with the UnHerd website.
The global stock market has been rocked by turbulence since 2 April, after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on nearly every country.
The unprecedented US trade policy manoeuvre included a 10% “baseline” tariff on all imports from the UK, France and other long-standing trade partners.
UK government sources have suggested that recent talks with the US on a trade deal have been making good progress. It is understood that any deal would focus on more than just lowering tariffs, and cover elements of trade in both goods and services.
In Vance’s wide-ranging interview with UnHerd, he suggested a US-UK trade deal would be easier to land than with other European countries due to “a much more reciprocal relationship”.
He mentioned Germany as an example of a country that exported heavily to the US but by comparison was “pretty tough on a lot of American” exports.
After Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, stock markets across the globe took a tumble, with trillions of dollars wiped from the US Stock market in the days after.
The president has since made some exemptions, and stock markets on Monday showed signs of recovery, although they are still down on the month.
Vance said any implementation of a new system is going to make financial markets “jittery” and that Trump is committed to the tariff strategy as “a long-term play”.
“What we want is to see lower trade deficits, really across the board,” Vance said.
The vice-president also expressed an affinity for Europe, after disparaging remarks between him and other top US officials were leaked from a private chat.
“I love European people. I’ve said repeatedly that I think that you can’t separate American culture from European culture,” Vance said.
He also emphasised points that he and the White House have made repeatedly, saying that Europe needs to better fortify its own self defence.
“It’s not in Europe’s interest, and it’s not in America’s interest, for Europe to be a permanent security vassal of the United States,” Vance said.
Vance went on to address the war in Ukraine and criticism that the US might be getting too cosy with Russia President Vladimir Putin.
He reiterated the administration’s messaging that to end the war “you have to try to understand” both sides.
“That doesn’t mean you morally support the Russian cause, or that you support the full-scale invasion,” Vance said.
“But you do have to try to understand what are their strategic red lines, in the same way that you have to try to understand what the Ukrainians are trying to get out of the conflict,” he continued.
On Sunday, Russia launched its deadliest attacks on Ukraine this year, killing at least 35 people and prompting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to invite Trump to visit his country before any deal is struck with Russia.
