{"id":595297,"date":"2026-05-21T00:42:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/595297\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:42:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:42:30","slug":"uk-agrees-3-7bn-trade-deal-with-six-gulf-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/595297\/","title":{"rendered":"UK agrees \u00a33.7bn trade deal with six Gulf states"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Meanwhile, the Conservatives, which began the negotiations for the deal when in government, said it was &#8220;another major Brexit opportunity&#8221; which Labour risks &#8220;throwing away&#8221; because what it sees as Labour&#8217;s pro-EU stance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">British products that will have tariffs removed include cheddar cheese, butter and chocolate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The trade deal between the UK and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) is the third struck by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer&#8217;s government, after those with India and South Korea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It is also the first deal between a G7 country and the GCC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The government has also struck trade agreements with the US and EU.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Starmer said the GCC deal was a &#8220;huge win&#8221; for British workers and businesses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Working people &#8220;will feel the benefits in the years ahead through higher wages and more opportunities&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said: &#8220;At a time of increased instability, today&#8217;s announcement sends a clear signal of confidence \u2013 giving UK exporters the certainty they need to plan ahead.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the deal was &#8220;proof we are backing British firms to compete and win globally&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This agreement is good for jobs, good for industry and ultimately good for consumers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, rights group Trade Justice Movement has said the deal &#8220;poses serious risks to human rights, labour protections, and climate action&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It has raised concerns about the GCC&#8217;s record of restricting press freedom, using the death penalty, and being high producers of greenhouse gas emissions because of their six countries&#8217; oil industries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It said on Wednesday the deal &#8220;locks the UK into deeper commercial ties with some of the most repressive governments in the world, for economic gains so marginal they barely register&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meanwhile, the Conservatives, which began the negotiations for the deal when in government, said it was &#8220;another major&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-595297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}