The UK has enjoyed a “Brexit dividend” by avoiding the 20 per cent tariffs Donald Trump imposed on all EU exports entering the US, a Treasury minister has said.
Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the UK had been “treated differently to the European Union” as a result of its decision to leave the bloc after the referendum in 2016.
The President hit the EU with 20 per cent levies on all goods imported into the US, whereas he placed a lower 10 per cent tariff on goods exported by the UK.
Asked if the lower 10 per cent tariff imposed by the US was a “Brexit dividend”, Jones told Sky News: “It is, there’s one. I’ve struggled to find one in the past but there is one we’ve ended up with.
“It’s good, but what we’re not going to do is pick or trade off the United States or the European Union.
“I’ve already talked about relationship with the United States, we know that’s important and works well, but so is our relationship with the European Union – on trade, on energy, but increasingly on security, and I think it’s the right strategic decision for the UK, especially in this world that’s chopping and changing around, that we have those strong bridges into the European Union and into the United States, and that’s what we’re working to deliver.”
Pro-European MPs in Labour are calling for the Government to forge closer ties with the EU in the wake of Trump’s decision to tear up the global economic order by slapping tariffs on all US imports.
Speaking in the Commons last week, senior Labour backbencher Stella Creasy said the UK needed to “get real”, warning that “celebrating a tariff of 10 per cent rather than 20 per cent is like a person celebrating the fact that when they were mugged, only their wallet was taken, not their watch as well”.
The Government is seeking to reset its trading relationship with Brussels, with the UK/EU council summit next month viewed as key date in attempts to secure renewed terms between the two economies.
Ministers have insisted that they will not make a choice between closer trading ties with both the EU and US.
Talks on an “economic prosperity deal” are continuing between the UK and US, but Downing Street is refusing to put a timeframe on securing a deal, with speculation that any agreement will not be signed for weeks or even months.
Jones was unable to say on Sunday whether he believed the trade deal would result in the White House reducing or removing the 10 per cent tariffs on UK goods.
There are concerns among MPs that Downing Street could reduce or even scrap the Digital Services Tax paid by the big technology firms worth £800m to the exchequer in order to secure a deal, or water down UK online safety laws.
The US is also understood to be pushing for deeper concessions from the UK in agriculture.
It has prompted the Liberal Democrats to demand the Government give MPs a vote on any trade deal agreed with the US.
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “It would be deeply undemocratic if Parliament were to be sidelined on such a critical issue for the country.
“Both Conservative and Labour MPs should commit now to voting down any Trump deal that sells out British farmers and their high food standards or waters down our online safety rules. The government must not use our high food and animal welfare standards or the online safety of our children as pawns in a negotiation to appease Donald Trump.”
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