By Rob Powell, political correspondent
On foreign and domestic issues, it’s a busy time for the Business Secretary – as evidenced by the raft of questions directed at him during a brief appearance at a central London trade summit.
On the prospect of some sort of deal to avoid tariffs from Donald Trump, Jonathan Reynolds spoke carefully.
He said we would know “pretty soon” what the outcome of “intensive” talks with Washington will be, but sounded somewhat optimistic, saying the trading relationship with the US was “fair and balanced”.
He did lean into the idea that the Digital Services Tax – a levy on big tech revenues hated by the Trump White House – could be scrapped though.
Describing it as a “temporary measure,” Reynolds said it wasn’t put in place as something that would never be changed.
Watch: Reynolds interrupted by protesters
Could that be put on the table as part of attempts to get a UK carve out from tariffs?
On the prospects for British Steel, the Business Secretary’s tone was more downbeat.
After Sky News revealed the Chinese owner of the business had rejected a £500m offer from the government to aid the company’s transition to greener production, Reynolds said the situation was “very, very challenging”.
Asked if he might up the offer, the cabinet minister said talks were continuing, but that he needed to make sure it was “the right deal for the taxpayer”.
He suggested he needed assurances over the viability of the business as well as a “guarantee on jobs”.
That won’t bring much comfort to the thousands facing potential redundancy if an agreement can’t be reached.