US will not back out of its tariff deals with UK and others, says Trump trade representative

Source: The Guardian

Sun 22 Feb 2026 12.18 EST
First published on Sun 22 Feb 2026 09.15 EST


The US will not back out of tariff deals it has already sealed with countries around the world, including the UK, the EU, Japan, Switzerland and others, Donald Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday.

The US supreme court ruled on Friday that many of the tariffs imposed by the US president were illegal, leading Trump to announce a new 15% global tariff on all imports the next day.

But Greer told CBS’s Face the Nation that the new levy was separate from agreements struck in the last nine months with about 20 countries around the world. “We want them to understand these deals are going to be good deals,” Greer said. “We’re going to stand by them. We expect our partners to stand by them.”

The UK education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, admitted on Sunday that UK businesses faced “uncertainty” after the latest developments, but told Sky News that the UK expected its “preferential” trade arrangements with the US to continue. Business leaders also said they expected the UK to “double down” on the existing deal announced by Trump and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, in May last year, rather than walk away.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/22/uk-in-talks-with-us-over-best-possible-deal-for-british-firms-amid-higher-tariffs-threat-trump