We’ll need to change the phrase apparently, out of the mouths of babes, sucklings and US Presidents. For President Trump has just told us all what is blindingly obvious, Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal will limit the possibilities for a UK/US trade deal. Well, yes, of course it will, how could anyone be so stupid as to think it wouldn’t?
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Donald Trump has suggested Theresa May’s Brexit agreement could threaten a US-UK trade deal. The US president told reporters the withdrawal agreement “sounds like a great deal for the EU” and meant the UK might not be able to trade with the US. No 10 insisted it is “very clear” the UK would be able to sign trade deals with countries around the world. [/perfectpullquote]Leaving the European Union should indeed mean that we’ll be able to sign trade deals, something which is currently an EU sole competence in that unlovely jargon. But any form of remaining in the customs union, Single Market or even regulatory compliance will limit what any trade deal can cover. Given that the Maybot’s deal does leave us in some manner of alignment with the EU’s rules and rulings then we will indeed be limited as to the contents of any US/UK trade deal.
Do note that this isn’t a matter of opinion, this is just simple reality. Opinion comes into play when we consider whether this is a good idea or not. I think it’s a terrible idea myself but that is as with fundaments, everyone’s got an opinion. Maybe we should and maybe we shouldn’t have cheap and unethically produced bacon, perhaps chlorine washed chicken should never pile up on our shores, perhaps it should. But there’s absolutely no doubt at all that the closer we clutch to Nanny Brussels’ skirts the more limited we are in the content of any trade deal with any other part of the world.
Still nobody has explained why we need anybody’s permission to buy stuff from the Yanks or anybody else. If we want to buy US goods we just…. buy US goods.
Jonathan Harston: Still nobody has explained why we need anybody’s permission to buy stuff from the Yanks or anybody else. If we want to buy US goods we just…. buy US goods The EU is concerned that stuff that lands in the UK could end up in the EU unless a barrier is put up. And the price of staying in the Customs Union is that the UK puts up the barrier, not the EU. Our freedom to import stuff is limited by May’s Brexit deal. On the bright side, we do get a bit more freedom about how we… Read more »
Also, without the tariffs and non-tariffs the UK consumer market will be open to competition and thus prices will fall and all those protected producers in the EU will no longer be protected and have to compete in an open, competitive market, lower their prices and thus receive lower profits, poor dears.
I have been in a coma for a number of years. Just prior to my misfortune I read reports of rising sea-levels due to global warming.
Having recovered from my coma, I caught up on some of the news and I am horrified to learn those reports were true and sea-levels have risen at such a rate that only the 27 Countries of the EU have survived and now comprise the whole World, all the rest gone.