A deal is a deal, even if it's worse than the old one. These days, the UK has to take what it can get

Starmer wasn't the only one who needed a quick result. Trump did, too

- John Crace

Donald Trump had promised an announcement that would be very possibly the greatest announcement in the whole history of announcements. Come yesterday morning, he said the US and the UK had reached a full and comprehensive trade deal. I guess a lot depends on what you mean by the words "greatest announcement" and "full and comprehensive". As details of the deal began to emerge, it rather looked as if the UK had managed to negotiate a worse deal with the US than we had even two months ago. One that was hardly transformative, just reversing some of the damage done to the UK by the US starting a global trade war. Tariffs as a protection racket.

Still, a deal is a deal. These days, Keir Starmer has learned you get what you can get. And it's more than any other country has got so far. It remains to be seen if others come out of the White House with anything better.

But Starmer wasn't the only one who needed a quick result. Trump did, too. He had a reputation to maintain as a deal-maker and Americans were beginning to get twitchy that none had been reached. It wasn't clear if this was a victory for crack negotiating teams, or a sign that both the US and the UK had been a bit desperate. So both sides were keen to chalk the deal up as a win for themselves.