The UK agrees to pay more for U.S. pharmaceuticals.

Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm William Lee Adams. Good morning.

The UK government has hailed a deal with the U.S. to keep tariffs on UK pharmaceutical

shipments into America at zero.

Under the agreement, Britain's National Health Service will pay more for medicines.

President Trump had repeatedly threatened to raise tariffs on them. The BBC's Michelle Flurry has more.

Did the UK bow to White House pressure, or is this about protecting a key British industry?

The truth is it's complicated. Here's the background. The NHS, Britain's

state-run health service, usually gets a rebate on sales of branded medicines to help control costs.

Now, under the New Deal, that rebate paid for by drug companies will fall from around 23% to 15%.

At the same time, the UK government plans to boost spending on new medicines by 25%.

Now, in return, UK-made medicines sold in the United States will escape Trump's threatened tariffs for at least three years.

That is a major win for one of Britain's top exports.

It comes after several pharma firms recently cut back investments.

It also reverses a trend. NHS spending on medicines has been shrinking since 2015.

But here's the catch. While UK patients may get faster access to new treatments, British

taxpayers, well, they could pay more, while American taxpayers may pay a bit

less. Michelle Flurry. Okay, let's do the numbers. Italian Fashion House Prada completed its

takeover of rival Versace in a deal valued at $1.38 billion. Elsewhere, the OECD said that

global growth will slow to 2.9% in 2026, that's down from

3.2% this year. And Europe's defense sector grew 14% in 2024, generating over $200 billion

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