The UK is believed to have missed a White House deadline this week to finalise a trade agreement covering steel and aluminium, according to Sky News.

US President Donald Trump had warned that failure to reach a deal by 9 July would see tariffs on British metal exports rise from 25% to 50%, while a successful agreement could cut them to zero.

Despite intensive negotiations, talks have stalled over two key sticking points. Washington wants the deal to apply only to steel “melted and poured” in the UK—a challenge for major exporter Tata Steel, which no longer carries out this process domestically following the closure of its blast furnaces. 

Additionally, US officials remain cautious because British Steel, whose blast furnaces are still operating, remains legally under Chinese ownership despite being under UK government control.

Officials remain hopeful a deal could still be reached by the end of July and believe Washington may delay imposing higher tariffs due to limited capacity to manage multiple trade negotiations simultaneously.