The “fantastic” UK-US trade deal came into effect at 5.01am, Monday June 30th, eight weeks after it was hailed as a breakthrough deal between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and President Donald Trump. With Prime Minister Starmer claiming that it “delivers for British businesses and protects UK jobs”, it also gives the US administration a prominent example to cite in their tariff-driven reset of trade relations with the rest of the world, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Richard Parker, Principal Consumer Insights Analyst at GlobalData, comments, “The direct impact of the trade deal on UK and US consumers has yet to be established, however consumer sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic has been uncertain for months, as people have grappled with headlines of tariff threats and geopolitical strife, and what this could all mean for their lives and livelihoods.”

US consumers are considerably more concerned about the impact of tariffs on them personally than their UK peers; GlobalData’s Q2 2025 global survey revealed that 84% of Americans are concerned to some degree over the impact of trade wars and tariffs on the prices of the products they buy; of those, 28% were extremely concerned (up from 24% in Q1), and 32% quite concerned. US initiated trade conflict has also been a cause for concern for some US consumers, worried that a political focus on ideological causes, such as reducing immigration with the consequential disruption to manpower in key agricultural and service industries, could be inflationary and further increase consumer prices.

In comparison, only 18% of UK consumers were extremely concerned about the impact of tariffs (up from 16% in Q1). Generation Z reported an above average level of concern in Q2, with only 10% of them not concerned by those issues versus 16% of consumers overall. As the most digitally connected consumers with their lifestyles still in the formative stages of independence, they may be more prone to such concerns based on peer group experiences and negative social media narrative influences.

This highlights, from a UK perspective, that tariffs are not as center-of-mind as they are for US consumers. Tariffs are a lesser component in the broader UK economic picture, as consumers’ perceptions of their own financial wellbeing. The exceptions are among those working in industries subject to the effects of tariffs on their trade with the US, e.g., auto manufacturers and their supply chains, and steel and aluminum workers. The deal terms have eased some fears, based on auto tariffs being dropped to 10% from 27.5%, and 10% tariffs on aero engines being removed, although steel and aluminum rates of 25% pose challenges for a UK sector already in difficulty.

Parker adds: “Fragility in confidence tends to be based on the uncertainty over what the US administration will decide to do day-to-day, rather than longer term. That goes for American consumers as well as those abroad. However, in the UK, another factor now weighing more heavily on consumer confidence is the expanding conflict in the Middle East and the implications that could have on petrol prices in the near-term. This type of inflationary risk may make British consumers more careful spenders as summer progresses.”