UK ‘will never change food standards’ in any trade deal with US, says government
US and Canadian practices like washing raw chicken in chlorinated water or feeding growth hormones to cattle are banned in the UK and EU

Although the tariffs imposed on Britain are at the lower end of the US’ scale – reflecting broadly balanced trade flows between the two countries – Reynolds said he still viewed the greater trade barriers as “disappointing”.
Earlier this month, just after the tariffs were announced, Reynolds told the BBC it was “not inaccurate” to say the US and Britain had agreed the broad outline of a possible deal, although Trump had not seen it.
However, there has been little sign of progress since, and last week finance minister Rachel Reeves said she intended to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “shortly”.

Attempts to strike a bilateral trade deal during Trump’s first term in 2017-2021 ran into opposition from Britain’s Conservative government at the time over measures to lower animal welfare and environmental standards.