Could one UK anti-abortion campaigner derail a US trade deal? ...Middle East

The ‘special relationship’ between the US and UK has been dealt another blow, this time over free speech.

The State Department – the US equivalent of the Foreign Office – said on Sunday night that it was “concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom”, citing a specific court case on abortion centre buffer zones.

The issue has reportedly become a block in talks over a trade deal between the US and UK, which has been a key goal of successive British Governments post-Brexit, according to The Telegraph.

It is unusual for the US to comment on the domestic affairs of another country – and even more unusual for it to stipulate this as part of a trade deal.

So could this jeopardise the all-important negotiations?

US backs anti-abortion campaigner

The State Department on Monday night threw its weight behind an anti-abortion campaigner being taken to court for allegedly breaking buffer zone laws.

It revealed that a senior official had met with Livia Tossici-Bolt – a British woman who was prosecuted for allegedly breaching a buffer zone when she held a sign near a Bournemouth abortion clinic reading “here to talk if you want” – and is “monitoring her case”.

The verdict will be given on Friday. Tossici-Bolt denies any wrongdoing.

“It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression,” the Department wrote on X.

A new law introduced last year introduced a buffer zone in a 150m radius of an abortion centre.

It is now a criminal offence to influence any person’s decision to access or facilitate abortion services at an abortion clinic, obstruct access or cause harassment, alarm or distress to someone using the site.

Tossici-Bolt said she is “grateful to the US State Department for taking note of my case”, adding that the UK is “supposed to be a free country.”

Abortion rights in the US have been dramatically rowed back in recent years, after Roe v Wade – a landmark court case which ruled that the right to an abortion was enshrined in the constitution – was reversed, allowing states to make their own decisions on abortion access.

Since then, many states have criminalised the procedure or dramatically narrowed the circumstances in which it is legal.

It isn’t the only issue the US has with free speech in the UK. The Trump administration reportedly dislikes the Online Safety Act because it can be used to levy fines on American tech firms for failing to regulate what is shared on their platforms.

Free speech has reportedly been discussed during negotiations over a trade agreement.

A source familiar with trade negotiations told The Telegraph that the issue had come up during talks and the US had made it clear there should be “no free trade without free speech”.

David Henig, Director of the UK Trade Policy Project, said such a caveat was “not normal and not something we should be standing for”.

Dr Jonny Hall, a US politics expert at the London School of Economics, said that while it was not common for the US to comment on domestic affairs of allies, there was precedent, including President Barack Obama’s warning to the UK that leaving the EU would put the UK “at the back of the queue”, Trump’s disagreements with Theresa May over Brexit and later with Boris Johnson over Huawei, and Biden’s repeated warnings over the Northern Ireland Protocol during the same administration.

“The important difference with this case is its exclusive domestic focus, which I would think is pretty rare,” Dr Hall said.

“To this Trump administration, this abortion case is likely deemed important as it intersects with the type of ‘culture wars’ that have proved to play a vital role in Trump’s campaign and mode of governing.

“Free speech is not neutral here, and is instead used as a signifier in these culture wars. The Trump administration might be talking about free speech here, but Trump of course regularly derides ‘fake news’ and lambasts the mainstream media, and over the last week we have seen hundreds of student visas revoked in the US for their positions on the war in Gaza.”

David Andersen, a US politics expert at Durham University, said it was “perhaps unprecedented” to threaten a trade relationship with a strong ally over a “relatively trivial” domestic issue.

“In many ways, the United States can not be taken seriously for what it says anymore because it is no longer clear and consistent about what it stands for. When the State Department criticises the UK over its ‘free speech’ concerns, this is clearly not what they are concerned about,” he said.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has sought to downplay the issue, saying that free speech has not been part of tariff negotiations with the US.

“Obviously, there are things from different people in the administration that they’ve said in the past about this, but it’s not been part of the trade negotiations that I’ve been part of,” he told Times Radio.

Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds arrives at Downing Street for the weekly Cabinet meeting (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Comments ‘could set back free speech in the UK’

Maxwell Marlow, Director of Public Affairs at the Adam Smith Institute which advocates for free trade and has drafted a Free Speech Act for the UK, said that while British free speech needed to improve, the US’s approach might actually set it back.

“Whilst the UK has a serious free speech problem, as highlighted by recent events concerning the primary school parents in Hertfordshire, it is highly unusual for foreign governments to attempt to move the hand of British politicians through trade policy on domestic issues,” he said.

Two parents said they were arrested and held at a police station for 11 hours because they complained about their daughter’s primary school.

The school said it had “sought advice from police” after a “high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts” which they said had been upsetting for staff, parents and governors.

Police later decided to take no further action citing insufficient evidence.

“This attempt by the State Department is more likely to alienate policymakers than otherwise – the Trump Administration should not pursue highly destructive and counter-productive tariffs. Associating free speech with tariffs could in fact damage the important debate on free speech.”

A US-UK trade deal has been back in the spotlight as Downing Street attempts to avoid being hit with large US tariffs, which have been imposed on a range of countries in recent weeks.

The White House’s growing trade war has already touched the UK, with British motoring manufacturers warning that 25 per cent tariffs on imports of cars, steel and aluminium to the US will be devastating for the British industry.

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Trump is set to impose wide ranging new levies on 2 April, though this is not thought to be a deadline for the trade deal talks.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper warned last week that imposing tariffs would be bad for the global economy and hinted that the UK could respond with its own levies, saying “no option is off the table”.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer believes “a trade war is in nobody’s interest,” a Downing Street source said.

Starmer spoke with Trump last week about a possible “economic prosperity deal” and agreed negotiations will “continue at pace”.

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