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01 February 2020

The Independent: Trump will put US first in trade negotiations with Boris Johnson, ambassador warns


Donald Trump will put the interests of US farmers and pharmaceutical companies first in any post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK, Britain’s former ambassador to Washington has warned.

And Sir Kim Darroch said that he was “sceptical” that Mr Trump would have the focus needed to conclude a trade deal during 2020, when his attention will be dominated by the fight for re-election as president.

Darroch, who quit last summer after the leak of cables in which he branded the Trump administration “inept” and “dysfunctional”, voiced doubt that the UK will be able to conduct parallel trade negotiations with both the remaining EU and US in the months after Brexit.

“it is going to be a hell of job just in terms of sucking up resources,” Sir Kim told The Guardian. “We have not done trade negotiations for 40 years. It is also going to be an electoral year in America and I don’t quite see how that is going to work.

“I am not sure president Trump is going to be massively focused on this trade negotiation while he is fighting for a second term and therefore whether the US trade representative is going to get quite the direction they need from the White House. So I am sceptical about the logistics and resources required.” [...]

Full article on The Independent



© The Independent


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