The announcement of the new, harmonious trade relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom was delayed by almost an hour on Thursday morning.
It could have been that president Donald Trump had been stooped over the Oval office fire place with a box of matches, all the better to send white smoke billowing through the White House chimney. After Liberation Day, the first deal.
The finer details of the arrangement have yet to be revealed - and possibly yet to be ironed out.
The 10 per cent tariff on British goods will remain. But the US will allow the UK to import 100,000 cars at that lower 10 per cent tariff rate. That would mainly account for the prestige British brands - Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin and Bentley.
Tariffs on UK steel and aluminium will be eliminated. The United Kingdom will buy some ten billion dollars of Boeing aircraft. They will reduce their non-tariff charges on US goods and agree, as president Trump put it to “opening up their country.”
Soon, the good people of the UK will be able to enjoy American products previously denied to them – including beef and poultry.
“They are opening up and we appreciate that,” Trump said, pleased. “There won’t be any red tape. Things will move very quickly both ways.”
As ever, the occasion was laden with pageantry and symbolism and key supporting players.
The announcement was timed to chime with the 80th anniversary of the Victory in Europe ceremonies taking place in London.
Winston Churchill’s name bounced around the Oval Office walls. Trump sat the Resolute Desk flanked by a cast that included Howard Lutnick, his commerce secretary, and Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador to the United States.
The support cast remained standing. Keir Starmer was on hand for a celebratory live phone message from Solihull.
“This is going to boost trade between our countries,” said Starmer.
“It is not only going to protect jobs but create jobs and as you say, Donald, the timing couldn’t be more apt because not only was it 80 years ago today that victory came for Europe but of course on that day the US and the UK stood together as the closest of allies.”
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Even Mandelson laid on the charm as thickly as butter on a good old British bacon sarnie. But he also offered a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes hustle.
“Thank you very much indeed for hosting us this morning,” he told president Trump, ”and “hank you very much also for that very typical 11th hour intervention by you with your phone call demanding even more out of this deal than any of us expected.
“So, thank you for that. The prime minister was delighted to take that call late at night. But you took it to another level. If we are going to rebalance and rebuild international trade in a way that serves all our interests we are better doing that together than apart.”
Mandelson spoke of the agreement as “the end of the beginning” of a new trade arrangement. Trump nodded.
On the other side of the world, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were making renewed pledges of friendship. Stocks nudged tentatively upwards. Trump reiterated his frustration with Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, whom he had called a “fool” for not cutting US rates.
“The Bank of England cut. China cut. Everybody is cutting but him. He is always too late. It’s a shame. But in this case, it is not going to matter too much. Our country is so strong.”
You can’t have everything. Although Mr Trump believes otherwise.
He promised more deals are on the horizon. But at noon, actual white smoke appeared from Rome, threatening to eclipse the news from Washington.
