Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlines red lines for US trade deal

Published

3 weeks ago

April 23, 2025

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Britain will not lower its standards or water down regulation in exchange for a trade deal with the US, the chancellor has confirmed.

Rachel Reeves was speaking ahead of a pivotal meeting with her American counterpart in Washington DC.

In an interview with Sky News, Ms Reeves said she was “confident” that a deal would be reached but said she had red lines on food and car standards, adding that changes to online safety were “non-negotiable for the British government”.

The comments mark the firmest commitment to a slew of rules and regulations that have long been a gripe for the Americans.

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The US administration is pushing for the UK to relax rules on agricultural exports, including hormone-treated beef.

While Britain could lower tariffs on some agricultural products that meet regulations, ministers have been clear that it will not lower its standards.

However, the government has been less firm with its stance on online safety.

A tech red line

The US tech industry has fiercely opposed Britain’s Online Safety Act, which was introduced in 2023 and requires tech companies to shield children from harmful content online.

In an earlier draft UK-US trade deal, the British government was considering a review of the bill in the hope of swerving US tariffs.

However, the chancellor suggested that this was no longer on the table.

“On food standards, we’ve always been really clear that we’re not going to be watering down standards in the UK and similarly, we’ve just passed the Online Safety Act and the safety, particularly of our children, is non-negotiable for the British government,” she said.

She added that Britain was “not going to water down areas of road safety”, a move that could pave the way for American SUVs that have been engineered to protect passengers but not pedestrians.

While non-tariff barriers will remain intact, it was reported on Tuesday night that the UK could lower its automotive tariff from 10% to 2.5%.

The calculations behind Reeves’s red lines

Gurpreet Narwan

Business and economics correspondent

@gurpreetnarwan

What can Britain offer the Americans if it’s not prepared to lower its standards?

Donald Trump has previously described non-tariff barriers that block US exporters as “cheating”.

Britain does have some scope to bring down tariff rates – and Rachel Reeves suggested that this was her focus – but ours is already a highly open economy, we don’t have huge scope to cut tariff rates.

The real prize for the Americans is in the realm of these non-tariff barriers.

There has been much speculation about what the UK could offer up, but the chancellor on Wednesday gave a comprehensive commitment that she would not dilute standards.

There are many who will breathe a collective sigh of relief – from UK farmers to road safety campaigners and parents of young children.

While the government is sensitive to any potential public backlash, it also has another factor to think about.

When Ms Reeves arrives back home, she will begin preparations for a UK-EU summit in London next month.

The UK’s food and road safety standards are, in many areas, in sync with Europe, and Britain is seeking even deeper integration.

Lowering standards for the Americans would make that deeper alignment with the Europeans impossible.

The chancellor has to decide which market is more valuable to Britain.

The answer is Europe.

Back at home, the chancellor suggested that she was still open to relaxing rules on the City of London, even though global financial markets have endured a period of turmoil, triggered by President Trump’s trade war.

Reforms at home?

In her Mansion House speech last November, the chancellor said post-2008 reforms had “gone too far” and set the course for deregulating the City.

Asked if that was a wise move in light of the recent sharp swings in the financial markets, Ms Reeves said: “I want regulators to regulate not just for risk but also for growth.

“We are making reforms and we have set out new remit letters to our financial services regulators.”

Britain’s borrowing costs hit their highest level in almost 30 years after Mr Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs announcements, a stark reminder that policy decisions in the US have the power to raise UK bond yields and in turn, affect the chancellor’s budget, dent her already small fiscal headroom and derail her plans for tax and spend.

However, the chancellor said she would not consider adapting her fiscal rules, which include a promise to cover day-to-day spending with tax receipts, even if it gives her more room to manoeuvre in the face of volatility.

“Fiscal rules are non-negotiable for a simple reason, that Britain must offer under this government fiscal and financial stability, which is so important in a world of global uncertainty,” she said.

Politics

Coinbase refuses $20M ransom after support agent data breach

Published

2 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Coinbase refuses M ransom after support agent data breach

Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hit by a $20 million extortion attempt after cybercriminals recruited overseas support agents to leak user data, the company said.

According to a May 15 blog post, Coinbase said a group of external actors bribed and coordinated with several customer support contractors to access internal systems and steal limited user account data.

“These insiders abused their access to customer support systems to steal the account data for a small subset of customers,” Coinbase said, adding that no passwords, private keys, funds or Coinbase Prime accounts were affected.

Less than 1% of Coinbase’s monthly transacting users’ data was affected by the attack, the company said.

Coinbase refuses $20M ransom after support agent data breach — *Source:* *Coinbase*

After stealing the data, the attackers attempted to extort $20 million from Coinbase in exchange for not disclosing the breach. Coinbase refused the demand.

Instead, the company announced it was offering a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the scheme.

Scammers often masquerade as recognizable brands to inspire a false sense of trust in their victims.

In 2024, Coinbase was the most impersonated cryptocurrency brand by scammers.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Politics

Sir Keir Starmer in talks with ‘a number of countries’ over return hubs for failed asylum seekers

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Sir Keir Starmer in talks with 'a number of countries' over return hubs for failed asylum seekers

The UK is in talks with “a number of countries” about sending failed asylum seekers to return hubs in third countries, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The prime minister confirmed the plan at a press conference alongside his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama in the country’s capital, Tirana.

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Sir Keir described the hubs as a “really important innovation” that complements other measures the government is taking to crack down on criminal smuggling gangs.

“We are in talks with a number of countries about return hubs,” he said.

“At the appropriate time, I’ll be able to give you further details in relation to it.”

Sir Keir did not say which countries he is in talks with, but Mr Rama suggested he is not open to hosting UK detention centres as Albania has already signed a deal for Italy to build them there.

“We have been asked by several countries if we were open to it, and we said no, because we are loyal to the marriage with Italy and the rest is just love,” he said.

Earlier, Sir Keir told GB News that the hubs would be for people whose asylum applications have failed and they have exhausted all avenues to appeal.

This is a different concept to the Tories’ failed Rwanda scheme which Sir Keir scrapped almost immediately after winning the general election.

The Rwanda plan involved deporting all people who arrived in the UK by unauthorised means to the east African country, where their asylum claims would be processed for them to settle there, not in Britain.

Return hubs would be an offshore location to hold migrants set to be returned to their home countries and who have no chance of remaining in the UK.

The Rwanda scheme failed to get off the ground before the Tories lost the election, despite millions spent, after it was repeatedly challenged in the courts.

Shadow home office minister Chris Philp today insisted it would have acted as a deterrent, whereas the return hubs are a “con on the British public”.

He said: “It’s better than nothing but it won’t work because most of the people crossing the Channel are of nationalities where they will get their asylum claims granted.

“It’s a con on the British public for Keir Starmer to claim these return hubs will have any practical effect.”

Mr Philp also called it a “slap in the face” and “humiliation” for the prime minister that Albania has already rejected the idea, saying he’d travelled all that way to “announce a few tweaks” to a cooperation deal that was put in place by the Conservatives.

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Politics

Ukraine strategic Bitcoin reserve bill reportedly in final stages

Published

4 hours ago

May 15, 2025

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Ukraine strategic Bitcoin reserve bill reportedly in final stages

Ukraine is reportedly moving closer to adopting Bitcoin as a national reserve asset, a move that could bolster its financial resilience amid the ongoing war with Russia.

Lawmakers are reportedly working on a Bitcoin (BTC) national reserve proposal, with a draft bill in its final stages, according to Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of parliament who confirmed the plan to local media outlet Incrypted.

The proposal was announced during the CRYPTO 2025 conference in Kyiv on Feb. 6. “We will soon submit a draft law from the industry allowing the creation of crypto reserves,” Zhelezniak said.

Cointelegraph reached out to Zhelezniak for comment on the bill’s status but had not received a response by publication.

Bitcoin has gained international attention as a national reserve asset since the election of US President Donald Trump in November 2024. On March 7, Trump signed an executive order to establish a national Bitcoin reserve seeded with BTC confiscated from criminal cases.

A month later, Swedish MP Rickard Nordin issued an open letter urging Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson to consider adopting Bitcoin as a national reserve asset, citing its growing recognition as a “hedge against inflation,” Cointelegraph reported on April 11.

Legal challenges may delay adoption

While Ukraine’s push for a national Bitcoin reserve marks a potentially historic shift in crypto policy, it may require “significant legal change,” according to Kyrylo Khomiakov, regional head of CEE, Central Asia and Africa, at crypto exchange Binance.

“We commend Ukraine’s ambition to establish a strategic crypto reserve,” he told Cointelegraph. “Implementing such a reserve would necessitate significant legal changes, indicating that this process will not be swift.”

He added, “Another positive aspect is that this initiative will likely lead to greater regulatory clarity in Ukraine, as the government will need to articulate its stance more clearly.”

Ukraine was reportedly planning to legalize cryptocurrencies in early 2025 with the finalization of a draft bill in coordination with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Daniil Getmantsev, head of the tax committee of the Verkhovna Rada.

On April 8, Ukraine’s financial regulator proposed taxing certain crypto transactions as personal income with a rate of up to 23%, excluding crypto-to-crypto transactions and stablecoins.

Not all voices in Ukraine’s crypto industry are optimistic about the timing of the proposal.

”The country is broke. More than 50% of the budget is in grants and loans from the European Union,” said Michael Chobanian, the founder of Ukraine-based Kuna exchange.

“The population is decreasing at the fastest rate in the world. Men are kidnapped and sent to the army against their will. What kind of BTC reserves are we talking about here? This is done only to divert your attention,” Chobanian claimed.