As part of the 鈥淟iberation Day鈥� announcement on 8 April, the US administration announced a series of new additional tariffs to apply to imports to the US.
Following significant financial market disruption, US President Donald Trump announced that he would apply a baseline 鈥渦niversal鈥� tariff of 10% on nearly all imports to the US and additional tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The clock is now ticking for many countries which face the prospect of additional tariffs being applied when the 90-day grace period President Trump announced runs out on 9 July.
鈥�It鈥檚 understandable that the UK government wants to eliminate the 10% tariffs on all goods going to the US, but we have to ask 鈥� what is the cost?鈥�
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
Agriculture has 鈥榙one its bit鈥�
Delivering a united message, UK farmers said further agricultural concessions would cripple an already hard-pressed farming and growing sector which had already 鈥渄one its bit鈥� on trade with Washington.
The US was given new, tariff-free access to the UK beef market for 13,000t of hormone-free beef (TRQ), and a tariff reduction on the existing 1,000t beef quota from 20% to 0%. The US was also granted new tariff-free access for 1.4 billion litres of US ethanol, which will put the UK鈥檚 bioethanol and associated sectors under pressure. This access for US imports came into force on 30 June.
Understanding the US trade deal:
The warning comes amid serious concerns that the US will demand even greater access to the UK agricultural market in return for reducing or removing the additional 10% tariffs applied by President Trump earlier this year.
A key concern is that this could include concessions for US agri-food items that have been produced using methods that are illegal here, and fail to meet the UK鈥檚 high animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards.
Bargaining chip
皇家华人convened an extraordinary board meeting, made up of elected farmer and grower representatives across food-producing sectors, during which it was made clear that UK farming can give no more without suffering serious impacts on its own viability.
The board concluded that the deal UK-US agreed in May is the most the agriculture sector can carry.聽
This deal saw the UK livestock and arable sectors taking the hit in order to reduce significant tariffs on other sectors of the economy such as cars, steel and aluminium. At the time, the NFU recognised that this was a necessary burden to bear to protect the wider UK economy, but warned the agricultural sector could not shoulder any more as negotiations continued.
Now, the NFU is calling for a commitment that agriculture will not be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations to reduce the remaining 10% tariffs and is asking the government to be prepared to walk away rather than risk our domestic food and farming sector.
US 鈥榙ragging its feet鈥�
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 understandable that the UK government wants to eliminate the 10% tariffs on all goods going to the US, but we have to ask 鈥� what is the cost?聽
鈥淭he US has made it crystal clear that they want greater access to our market for their agricultural produce, and it is not afraid to throw its weight around to get what it wants.鈥�
Tom said the industry had already 鈥渄one its bit鈥� in reference to the concessions on the livestock and arable sectors. 鈥淲e have nothing more to give,鈥� he added.聽
While the UK Government has upheld its side of the deal announced in May, with legislation now in place to allow additional access for American imports of beef and ethanol, the US has been 鈥渄ragging its feet to uphold its side of the bargain鈥�, Tom said, with no sign of the promised access to the US beef market.
Take agriculture off the negotiating table
鈥淣o one has been able to agree a deal which removes these 10% tariffs,鈥� the NFU President continued. 鈥淲e cannot continue to barter away critical sectors such as food production in pursuit of tariff reductions which may never materialise and that simply take us back to where we were before 鈥楲iberation Day鈥�.
鈥淥ur government has stood firm so far to protect our most sensitive farming sectors and to safeguard our high welfare, environmental and food safety standards. It has to continue to do so by taking further agricultural concessions off the negotiating table, or we run the serious risk of crippling our country鈥檚 ability to produce its own food and undermining our food production values.
鈥淎nd if push comes to shove and the US doesn鈥檛 accept this, I hope our government would prioritise its own farming sector 鈥� the foundation of our nation鈥檚 food security 鈥� over any further deal with the US, even if it means accepting the 10% tariffs.鈥�
Impact of previous deals
皇家华人has long warned of the cumulative impact of trade deals on agriculture鈥檚 viability.
For example, we are now seeing the impacts of the trade deals with Australia and New Zealand which gave away increasing market access to our beef and lamb markets, as Australian beef imports have more than doubled in the past year (3,920t in the first five months of 2025 compared to 1,917t in the same period of 2024).
This has pushed down farmgate prices for domestic beef producers. It follows a surge in imports of Australian and New Zealand last year.
