The UK PM was in town today. The UK has been trying to get a free trade deal with the US, ever since it abandoned the free trade deal it had with Europe.
Now, the typical TIG approach would be to demand that the UK balance it’s trade with the US, by buying oil and gas.
There is some room to increase purchases from the US: Numbers from Google’s AI thingy.
Crude petroleum imports
In 2023, the UK imported $32 billion worth of crude petroleum.
The UK’s main sources of crude petroleum imports were Norway ($13.7 billion), the United States ($10.2 billion), Nigeria ($1.64 billion), Algeria ($1.54 billion), and Libya ($1.53 billion).
According to available data, the UK’s annual natural gas imports are estimated to be around $22.4 billion in dollars, with the majority of this coming from Norway and other European sources; however, this figure can fluctuate significantly depending on the current market price of natural gas
Thing is, as much as the US’ manufacturing capacity has rotted, the UK’s has rotted worse, so the US runs a trade surplus with the UK.
In 2024, the United States had a trade surplus of $11.9 billion with the United Kingdom. This was a 17.4% increase from 2023.
Trade in goods
In 2024, the U.S. exported $79.9 billion in goods to the U.K., and imported $68.1 billion.
In 2023, the U.K. exported $59.7 billion to the U.S., and the U.S. exported $78.3 billion to the U.K
So the US would have a hard time claiming the UK is “stealing from the US”, like the administration claims countries with a trade surplus do. But the administration policy is to threaten and abuse our allies to force them to turn away from their other oil and gas suppliers, and buy from the US instead.
Trump said during a joint press conference with Starmer on Thursday in Washington that a deal could happen “very quickly” to help the UK avoid being swept up in in his oft-threatened tariffs.
Trump was clear that nothing had yet been agreed, adding: “I think we’ll have something maybe even in terms of possibilities agreed to very shortly.” But he joked that Starmer was “working hard” to convince him not to tax imports from the UK.
“I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary,” Trump said.
Steve