Donald Trump has been handed "a veto" over Chinese investment in Britain, Government sources suggest.
It comes as the White House and Westminster came to a deal that would eliminate a number of planned tariffs between the nations.
Sir Keir Starmer praised the deal, saying the "historic" deal would save thousands of jobs while President Trump said "everybody benefits" from the deal, adding it was "a very big and exciting day."
However, under the terms of the deal, the US will also have the ability to object to Chinese companies investing in the UK, reports The Telegraph.
Starmer has reportedly handed the veto to Trump
Reuters
A source close to the talks said the clause amounted to a "sort of veto" for the US on any form “major China investment."
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel slammed the move, saying Labour had given Trump full reign over investment decisions in the UK.
"Keir Starmer has already given Trump a bigger UK tariff cut than Trump has given him," she told The Telegraph.
"Now it looks like he’s effectively handed America a veto over investment decisions in the UK. When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. The US has told Starmer to jump, and he’s said, 'how high?'"
Dame Priti Patel
PA
However, Treasury Darren Jones dismissed the story as "complete nonsense", saying he was unsure where the comment had come from.
"I think it was a Conservative Party criticism. But as you said, we've not even published all of the documents yet, so I’m not quite sure how they were able to come up with that," he told Times Radio.
"I can be completely categorical with you there is no such thing as a veto on Chinese investment in this trade deal, this is not what this trade deal is about.
"It is a sectoral trade deal in relation to tariffs in key sectors, in the way that we’ve just been talking about. So I'd suggest the Conservative Party reads the documents and they maybe come back for a second go."
WATCH: Andrew Griffiths speaks to GB News about the US trade deal
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith has criticised the newly announced US-UK trade deal, arguing it falls short of a comprehensive free trade agreement.
Griffith said: "Tariffs are generally a bad thing. They reduce economic trade between countries and it's trade that helps grow economies and has actually lifted billions of people out of poverty around the world.
"So today, we're still facing higher tariffs than we were two months ago. Of course, it’s welcome when a sector like automotive, brilliant manufacturing here in the UK, has its tariffs lowered.
"But let’s be crystal clear about what’s happened: they’re merely being lowered to the 10 per cent threshold, which is the same rate applied to goods from the rest of the world and across the rest of the UK economy. So we’re still worse off than when this started."
