Sir Kim Darroch said it would be difficult for Britain to get a “clear win” from an American trade deal, while it is likely to be forced to make a “big concession” in areas like taxes on tech giants, online safety or pharmaceuticals.
Darroch said :“I would just say that I think there’s a lot of misplaced optimism that about this deal.
Darroch went on to say a deal would be unlikely without the UK giving way on either agriculture imports from the US, although ministers have ruled out watering down food standards, taxes on tech giants, online safety laws or paying more for American pharmaceuticals.
Darroch was US ambassador between 2016 and 2019 but was forced to stand down after messages he wrote criticising the first-term Trump White House as “inept” and “dysfunctional” were leaked to the press.
“If you want a quick win somewhere on UK growth reducing the trade barriers with Europe looks like an absolute no-brainer from my point of view.
“I can’t believe the Starmer government would do that, but I can believe it might be on the American wish list.”
“We don’t have to choose one of our allies or another, we’ve obviously got the wider EU reset going on, that is looking at trade and the US is one of our biggest trading partners.”
One business source said this could include striking sub-deals with like-minded nations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) akin to a recent plurilateral agreement on e-commerce.
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“One that recognises the benefits of free and fair trade but also seeks to address the challenges of this new era.”
Reeves over the weekend freed up £20bn of loans for exporters to help companies hit by Trump’s trade war, while temporarily suspending tariffs on 89 products including batteries and fruit juice imported to the UK, to ease the cost of living crisis.
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