UK drug exports to US spared tariffs under deal critics say will cost NHS billions

The UK government described the deal as a ‘win for British patients, British businesses and the British economy’. Photograph: David Sillitoe/The Guardian

British drug exports to the US will escape tariffs imposed by Donald Trump as part of a controversial UK-US medicines deal that critics fear will mean less money for the NHS.

The deal will also give patients in Britain greater access to potentially life-extending drugs because the rules have been relaxed to allow the NHS to pay more for particular treatments.