Leading food executive Neil Shand has said the UK-US trade deal will provide good access for the beef industry, but the services industry “remain very nervous.”
Shand who is the chief executive of the National Beef Association said that as part of the UK-US trade deal 13,000 tonnes of American and British beef will be exported to both countries.
Speaking to Times Radio Shand said, “We have access to the US market. We had limited access – there’s a carryover of a WTO (World Trade Organisation) deal that the US had, that existed from pre-Brexit times, and we were allowed to send small amounts of beef to the US, but this will allow our market to grow as well.
“In volume terms, there is an argument that they have a bigger access or a larger quantity into our market.
“But in the overall scheme of things, 13,000 tonnes is not a huge amount of beef, if you consider last year we imported 241,000 tonnes.”
The Treasury’s chief secretary, Darren Jones told GB News that the trade deal will protect “thousands of jobs.”
Jones told GB News, “This is a good trade deal for the United Kingdom. It protects thousands of jobs that were at risk. The Prime Minister has been able to protect jobs and communities.”
He was asked if Brexit helped seal the deal with Donald Trump, the Labour MP said, “Who knows, we left the European Union a very long time ago. What I do know is we are the first country in the world to secure a new trade deal with the President of the US.
“It is also an indication of the strategy from this Prime Minister in being able to agree this with the President.”
Jones said that as part of the trade deal “food standards have been protected” and there will be reduced tariffs on British beef being sent to the US therefore “there will be opportunities for British farmers to export more.”
