Vance said of Trump: “He’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in [Britain]. But I think it’s much deeper than that. There’s a real cultural affinity. And of course, fundamentally America is an Anglo country.”
He added: “I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries.”
The British government has been urgently trying to seal an economic agreement with the U.S. in a bid to reduce Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on metals and cars, as well as the baseline 10 percent levy Trump has imposed on all products imported to the U.S.
“With the United Kingdom, we have a much more reciprocal relationship than we have with, say, Germany,” Vance said. “While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany.”
The U.K. and Australia are among the countries now being prioritized by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for a trade agreement. A person close to the White House told POLITICO Australia “is a little less complex in terms of their internal politics” than the U.K.
Countries need to bring their “A-game” to negotiations, Bessent told Bloomberg in an interview in Buenos Aires on Monday, indicating there are “a dozen” nations the U.S. is negotiating with during Trump’s 90 day pause on some tariffs.
