Donald Trump is set to announce that America will agree a trade deal with the UK, according to reports in the US.

Three sources familiar with the reported plans told the New York Times that the US president will make the announcement on Thursday.

Shortly after the report emerged the value of the British pound rose by 0.4% against the US dollar.

Mr Trump had earlier teased that he would be announcing a major trade deal in the Oval Office at 10am local time (3pm UK time) on Thursday without specifying which country it had been agreed with.

Writing in a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, he said the news conference announcing the deal would be held with “representatives of a big, and highly respected, country”.

He did not offer more details but said the announcement would be the “first of many”.

A White House spokesperson has declined to comment on the New York Times report.

Senior Trump officials have been engaging in a flurry of meetings with trading partners since the US president announced his “liberation day” tariffs on both the US’ geopolitical rivals and allies on 2 April.

Mr Trump imposed a 10% tariff on most countries including the UK during the announcement, along with higher “reciprocal” tariff rates for many trading partners.

However those reciprocal tariffs were later suspended for 90 days.

Britain was not among the countries hit with the higher reciprocal tariffs because it imports more from the US than it exports there.

However, the UK was still impacted by a 25% tariff on all cars and all steel and aluminium imports to the US.

A UK official said on Tuesday that the two countries had made good progress on a trade deal that would likely include lower tariff quotas on steel and cars.

Mr Trump said the same day that he and top administration officials would review potential trade deals with other countries over the next two weeks to decide which ones to accept.

Last week he said that he has “potential” trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.

US and Chinese officials to discuss trade war

It comes as the US and China have been engaged in an escalating trade war since Mr Trump took office in January.

The Trump administration has raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% while Beijing has responded with levies of 125% in recent weeks.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are set to meet their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this week to discuss the trade war.

China has made the de-escalation of the tariffs a requirement for trade negotiations, which the meetings are supposed to help establish.

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A senior Labour MP has said the government needs to take “corrective action” over planned disability benefit cuts – as Sir Keir Starmer faces a growing backbench rebellion.

Tan Dhesi, chair of the influential Commons defence committee, told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge the “disappointing” local election results show the government must listen and learn, particularly over welfare reforms.

The government has proposed tightening the eligibility requirements for the personal independent payment, known as PIP.

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A claimant must score a minimum of four points on one PIP daily living activity, such as preparing food, washing and bathing, using the toilet or reading, to receive the daily living element of the benefit.

Mr Dhesi, the MP for Slough, said “corrective action” needs to be taken but insisted if the government changed tact, it would not be a U-turn as the disability cuts were only proposals.

“A government which is in listening mode should be looking at what the electorate is saying,” he said.

“And we need to make sure that it’s our moral duty, responsibility, to look after the most vulnerable within our community, whether that’s in Slough, whether that’s elsewhere across the country.

“So, I hope that the government will be taking on board that feedback and many of us as MPs are giving that feedback in various meetings happening here in Westminster and then we need to take corrective action.”

Minister Alex Davies-Jones told the Politics Hub a Labour government “will always seek to protect the most vulnerable” and it wants to “listen to people who have got real lived experience”.

She added she has the “utmost respect for Tan, he’s a great constituency MP and he’s doing exactly what he should be doing, is representing his constituency”.

Sir Keir is facing a rebellion from Labour MPs, with about 40 in the Red Wall – Labour’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – reposting a statement on social media in which they said the leadership’s response to the local elections had “fallen on deaf ears”.

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Several backbench Labour MPs also spoke out against the plans during a debate on PIP and disabled people in parliament on Wednesday.

Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby, said he would “swim through vomit to vote against” the proposed changes and said: “This is not what the Labour Party was formed to do.”

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, said she feared tightening PIP eligibility would cause deaths, adding: “Lest we forget that study that attributed 330,000 excess deaths in Britain between 2012 and 2019 to the last round of austerity cuts [under the Conservative government].”

Diane Abbott, the longest-serving female MP, accused the government of putting forward “contradictory arguments”.

“On the one hand, they insist they are helping the disabled by putting them back to work,” she said.

“But on the other hand, they say this cut will save £9bn. Well, you can’t do both.”

However, fellow Labour MP David Pinto-Duschinsky, said MPs cannot “ignore this issue” of health-related benefit claimant figures rising at “twice the rate of underlying health conditions”.

Responding for the government, social security minister Sir Stephen Timms said PIP claims were set to “more than double, from two million to over 4.3 million this decade”.

“It would certainly not be in the interests of people currently claiming the benefits for the government to bury its head in the sand over that rate of increase,” he added.

A man whose dismembered body was found in a suitcase had raped and blackmailed a teenager, a court has heard.

The remains of Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71, were found in a suitcase and trunk which had been left near the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol in July 2024.

Yostin Mosquera is on trial at the Old Bailey in London accused of murdering and dismembering Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth.

The 35-year-old denies both murders but has admitted the manslaughter of Mr Alfonso.

A witness, giving evidence under the pseudonym James Smith, appeared at the trial by video link on Wednesday.

Mr Smith said he met Mr Alfonso nearly 20 years ago when he was around 17 or 18 and had gone to his flat for drinks.

He said he remembered drinking heavily and then waking up with a “banging headache”.

“I said to him, ‘what’s happened?’ – he showed me a video of me on all fours and he was penetrating me,” he told the court.

“I didn’t know what to do. I was mortified. At this point, I didn’t know my sexuality – I was confused and scared.”

He said Mr Alfonso told him if he did “favours”, the video would never be shared.

Under cross-examination, defence barrister Tom Little KC asked: “Does it cross your mind, looking back, that you were raped?”

“Now, yes,” Mr Smith replied.

“And does it cross your mind that your drink may have been spiked?”, the barrister asked.

“Now, yes,” the witness responded.

“Does it cross your mind that you were groomed by Albert Alfonso?”, Mr Little asked.

“Now, yes,” Mr Smith said.

After the alleged incident, the two met regularly, with Mr Alfonso paying Mr Smith around £150 for each sexual encounter, the court heard.

During the COVID pandemic, the witness said he became closer with Mr Alfonso and began spending time with Mr Longworth.

Mr Smith told the court he was later introduced to Mosquera.

He said the relationship between Mosquera and Mr Alfonso was “good – very good”.

“I didn’t see anything that seemed like they disliked each other,” he added.

He described Mr Longworth as someone who “wouldn’t hurt a fly”.

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Mr Smith said the final time he saw Mr Alfonso and Mr Longworth was on a Friday evening before the bodies were discovered.

“Albert gave me a hug, Paul gave me a hug, and that was the last I heard of those two,” he said.

The trial continues.