Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's new trade deal with the US could trigger a "funeral" for Britain's car manufacturing industry, it has been claimed.
Announcing the historic deal via phone call between the two world leaders, US President Donald Trump claimed that the agreement is a "great deal for both countries", with Starmer hailing the "boost to trade" in Britain and across the pond.
The deal includes significant reductions in tariffs on British automobiles, slashing duties to 10 per cent on the first 100,000 cars shipped from Britain to the United States.
However, any UK-produced cars imported above the 100,000 threshold will face a 25 per cent tariff instead.
Hadley Gamble has predicted a 'funeral' for Britain's car manufacturing industry following Keir Starmer's deal with the US
GB News / PA
Casting doubt on the deal, US Journalist Hadley Gamble claimed that the deal "wipes out the profit margin" for car manufacturers in Britain.
Gamble explained: "Starmer was at Jaguar Land Rover for the announcement, and you saw the faces of the folks standing behind him - they didn't look terribly enthusiastic. It was a funeral.
"And why was it a funeral? Because this is a company where essentially it's a 6 per cent margin, right? And we're talking about a 10 per cent tariff. So that essentially wipes out their profit margin."
Gamble added: "And also they've capped it on 100,000 cars. Last year they sold 101,000 cars in the United States, so that's basically saying that this is a company that can no longer grow in America."
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The trade deal was announced earlier today in a chaotic phone call held between Trump and Starmer
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Emphasising how the deal far better benefits the US than the UK, Gamble told host Martin Daubney that Donald Trump is celebrating several "big wins" for his nation, following the announcement of the deal and the new Pope, Pope Leo XIV.
Gamble said: "It is an incredible deal for the United States. This is a week of big wins for the US President. Obviously, he's got this win on the trade deal, he's got a big win in the new American pope, Pope Leo.
"But also just look at the optics of this - if this had been a big deal, a great deal for the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer would have been in the Oval Office taking his victory lap. And he wasn't, he was here in the UK."
Offering a defence for Starmer accepting such a deal, Gamble suggested that the Prime Minister had the option of either "a bad deal" or "no deal at all".
Gamble told GB News that the deal is 'not good for this country'
GB News
Gamble stated: "Essentially, you had very little choice. To be kind and clear about Keir Starmer here, he had a bad choice or no choice at all, because you either went with this or you didn't get a deal at all. So I'm assuming that that was his thought process here.
"But that doesn't escape the fact that this is a country that's in industrial decline at two times the rate of the United States.
"This is a country now facing this wealth exodus of billions of dollars, which is the cost to your economy."
She concluded: "So he's trying to do something, that is clear. But what he has done has essentially not been good for this country."
