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

Reading Time:2 minutes

Chickens at a poultry facility in California. Photo: TNS

Published: 9:10pm, 13 Apr 2025Updated: 10:06am, 14 Apr 2025

Britain will not relax its food safety standards as part of any deal to secure lower tariffs on its exports to the United States, business minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump has imposed 10 per cent tariffs on most imports of British goods to the US and a higher 25 per cent rate on imports of cars, steel and aluminium.

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”.

Chicken for sale in a store in Annapolis, Maryland, on April 4. Common US and Canadian practices like washing raw chicken in chlorinated water are banned in many other countries. Photo: AFP

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.