WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Anne-Marie Trevelyan from Britain will ask Gina Raimondo, the U.S. Commerce Secretary, to open formal negotiations on reducing U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs before the end the year. This was a British senior official stated.

Trevelyan had told Katherine Tai, chief U.S. trade negotiator in Washington, Tuesday that there were growing pressures in Britain to increase its tariffs on whiskey and similar U.S. goods unless the U.S. made a quick deal.

Trevelyan and Raimondo will be repeating that message on Wednesday at the meeting, an official stated, under anonymity.

Britain has left the European Union in January 2020. The U.S. and EU pact was struck in October. It allows for duty-free entry into the United States of “limited quantities” of EU-produced materials, but retains Section 232 tariffs at 25% on steel, 10% on aluminum, and more generally.

British businesses will feel more pressure beginning Jan. 1, as the US-EU trade agreement means that tariffs on EU goods are going to drop. After the EU-US deal, the EU stopped imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States.