News that US president Donald Trump doesn’t regard a free-trade deal with the UK as a priority shows the UK should team up once more with its true allies in Europe, former MEP and Rejoin EU Party candidate in Runcorn & Helsby, John Stevens, says.
Trump has made a trade deal with the UK a second-order priority, with US officials deciding to split negotiations with more than 12 other countries into three phases and placing the UK in either phase two or three, the Guardian cited unidentified sources as saying.
Negotiations remain unpredictable and US officials now reportedly want the UK to lower its food-quality standards to allow imports of American beef and chicken, which the UK government has ruled out, the Guardian said.
The news shows hopes of a quick, cosy deal with the US are delusional, Stevens said.
“Once again, Reform leader Nigel Farage’s prediction that President Trump is a good friend to Britain who will give us a trade deal making up for the loss of trade we have suffered by leaving the EU has been proved false,” Stevens said.
“There is no way the US, even without Trump’s aggressive tariffs doctrine, could grant us any plausible trading arrangement that would remotely match what we enjoyed with the EU. It’s clearly time to re-join.”
