US, UK make headway on trade pact, British official says

By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. and Britain have made good progress in negotiating a trade deal that would likely include lower tariff quotas on steel and autos, a UK official said on Tuesday, but the timing of a deal remains in doubt amid conflicting signals from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and President Donald Trump.

Bessent told lawmakers earlier on Tuesday the Trump administration could announce trade agreements with some of the largest U.S. trading partners as early as this week. But later Trump told reporters before a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that he and top administration officials will review potential trade deals over the next two weeks to decide which ones to accept.

Since Trump announced a 90-day hiatus from stiff "reciprocal" tariffs he had aimed at dozens of trading partners, he and his top officials have engaged in a flurry of meetings with trading partners to secure deals before the pause ends in early July.

U.S. and British officials engaged in "good discussions" remotely over the weekend and in person this week on a range of issues, but it was too soon to say when a deal could be finalized, a UK official said.

"There's a landing zone," the official said. "We've had good discussions this week."

The talks, led on the U.S. side by officials from the U.S. Trade Representative's office and the Commerce Department, were expected to result in lower-tariff quotas for steel and autos, with talks still continuing about the UK digital services tax.

A second source familiar with the talks said the situation was encouraging, but still fluid.

Britain was not expected to change its phytosanitary standards which have precluded the import of some U.S. meat products, but U.S. officials understood there was little demand for those products in Britain at this point. A second source familiar with the talks said the situation was still fluid.

A UK government spokesperson said talks on an economic deal between the U.S. and the UK were ongoing, but declined to set any timelines for agreement. "We will continue to take a calm and steady approach to talks and aim to find a resolution to help ease the pressure on UK businesses and consumers," they said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; additional reporting by Catarina Demony in London; Editing by Dan Burns and Howard Goller)