Trump's U.K. Trade Deal Exposes New Fight for RFK Jr. and MAHA

As Trump scores a major trade win with the United Kingdom, we get a look behind the scenes at the rift between HHS and Agriculture.

President Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled a historic trade deal between our two countries this morning. This is a big moment for Trump, not only because it serves as the first major vindication of his tariff strategy but because it sets the stage for new deals that could fundamentally reshape the American economy.

Looking at the details we have so far, it looks like his characteristically tough approach to making deals has worked out for him. But, as I outline throughout this piece, the deal - and the complexities surrounding it - reveal some of the cracks in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA agenda. Kennedy didn’t cause the cracks, but he still needs to fill them.

Let’s start by taking a look at the deal.

In short, the new deal significantly reduces tariffs on steel, aluminium, ethanol, cars, and beef. The UK’s tariffs on American ethanol have dropped to zero, while UK car exports to the U.S. will face 10% tariffs - a reduction from 27.5% - for up to 100,000 vehicles. That’s great news for the UK, and as a Brit abroad, I do hope it will perhaps incentivise some more UK cars coming to the States. We have some great cars back home that I never see over here, and for pure novelty’s sake, I’d love to see Vauxhalls driving on American roads. Though, as I wrote this, I just Googled “2025 Vauxhall” (I’ve been in the States for so long now I don’t know what the latest British cars look like) and, well, I’m disappointed. British cars used to be so visually identifiable but now they just look the same. So I take it back! I’ll hold onto some hope that a future trade deal with Europe will bring some French cars to the States. Now that would be fun.

OK, let’s move on from that tangent and get back to the topic of steel and aluminium. Tariffs on UK exports of the mese materials have now been eliminated, dropping from 25%. Additionally, 13,000 metric tonnes of tariff-free access has been granted to British beef exporters. For American products coming to the UK, however, there are still important standards that Britain isn’t budging on: specifically, no hormone-treated US beef will be imported. This is an important point I’ll get back to in a moment, after we briefly look at why this deal is good for both the UK and the US.

Why It Benefits Britain

• Saves thousands of jobs in car manufacturing (Jaguar Land Rover, for example) and the struggling UK steel sector.

• Provides hundreds of millions in savings for British exporters annually.

• Preserves high UK food safety standards while still expanding access to US agricultural markets.

• Boosts export stability and sets a new precedent for preferential treatment in future US tariff strategies.

Why It Benefits the States

• First, this gives Trump a high-profile win amid market concerns following his new global tariffs. The Fed just refused to drop rates over market uncertainty - right before this announcement. That’s unfortunate.

• Provides increased access for US farmers and manufacturers to a wealthy market without fully dropping the new 10% universal tariff.

• Secures concessions like zero UK tariffs on US ethanol - a big win for US corn producers.

• Strengthens economic and political bond with the UK, an old and reliable ally. Even if our current prime minister is absolutely hopeless.

What RFK Jr. Is Up Against

Now, back to beef - and MAHA.

An interesting conversation unfolded in the Oval Office today about American beef and food standards. To give you a little background information before we talk about what was discussed, first remember what I said about how the UK and Europe have generally higher standards when it comes to food.

Something Americans might not know is that there has long been a debate in my home country of Britain about whether or not American poultry should be allowed into our market. The problem? Chlorination. The U.S. washes chicken with chlorine principally as a way of preventing pathogens like salmonella and campylobacter causing infections (or death!) upon exposure. However, the practice arguably allows poultry farms - specifically, factory farms - and processing facilities to operate with lower hygiene standards. Rather than focusing on preventing dangerous pathogens from infecting meat to begin with, these processing facilities can lean on the chlorination process to ensure the meat is safe to eat. And nobody ever knows, until a child gets sick from eating chicken.

Europeans generally view this as an inappropriate shortcut, and I’m inclined to agree. If the United States is to become truly healthy again, we must start from the ground up. We can’t only focus on the pharmaceutical industry or petroleum-based food dyes. We must also consider the standards to which we hold ourselves in meat production - and that means maintaining the highest standards at every stage of that production. I would also argue that it’s time to phase out factory farming entirely.

The conversation I mentioned earlier in the White House, which you can view here, centred around this very issue. The president was asked if the US would change its meat standards now that the UK has expressed willingness to accept American beef. Trump responded by saying Health Secretary RFK Jr. was working on this - but he was interrupted by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins who claimed that the United States has the “safest” and “best quality” beef in the world.

Now, I say the following as an Americanophile, and as somebody who chose to move here and raise an American child: the U.S. does not have the highest quality meat in the world.

Not by a long shot.

Rollins surely knows this - but her comments suggest to me that there is a bigger fracture between the MAHA team at HHS and her team in the Agriculture Department than most people realise.

Over 99% of farmed animals in the United States are raised on industrial factory farms. These facilities are crowded, unsanity, and facilitate the quick spread of disease among the animals. It’s bad for humans, and it’s torture for the animals.

And, as we’ve already discussed, processing facilities are far dirtier than they should be. A Boar’s Head facility in Viginia experienced a listeria outbreak in 2024, for example, that led to 10 deaths. This isn’t exactly uncommon these days.

RFK Jr. has publicly backed Rollins on multiple occasions, and while I’m sure he does respect Rollins and works well with her, does that mean she’d be his first choice if he were in the Oval Office?

I won’t speak for him, so let’s leave that as an open question. I’ll also say that I harbour no hatred for Rollins myself. I simply don’t think she recognises the scale of the problem we’re facing here.

So, what else is Kennedy to do? Trash Trump’s Agriculture Secretary, risk his role in HHS, and make it impossible to work with the Agriculture Department? He can’t and won’t do that. Obviously.

I trust that this man many of us trusted enough to back his presidential bid is doing right by the American people, and certainly doing the best he can given these limitations. But if he’s dealing with dishonesty (or delusion?) like this within the administration every day, it seems obvious to me that Kennedy will be forced to make major concessions over the next four years to ensure he can realise his Make America Healthy Again agenda to the best of his ability. Kennedy lost the election after all, so we can’t expect we’ll get exactly what was promised of a Kennedy presidency.

With that being said, I hope that trade deals like this wake Rollins up to the fact that America isn’t doing a good enough job at producing healthy and safe food, and that more can be done to improve this country’s agricultural processes. Certainly, I hope a combination of these trade deals and Kennedy’s expertise in this field wake her up to the great opportunities this country has with regards to regenerative agriculture and ethical farming practices.

If anyone’s going to get this done, it’s Kennedy - but he’s up against a lot.