Fantastic trade deal with the USA

[HPFA]

This is Donald Trump:

“Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families,”

Fantastic that we will soon be signing a new trade deal with the USA which clearly is going to work to our mutual benefit.

I saw a bit of an interview the other day

Trump was talking about Obamas comment about britain being at the back of the queue

The interviewer (might have been Gove) said "now we are at the front"

And trump said "you have done very well"

So thats a no then?

I don't think it could be more clear that Britain is on this POTUS mind. Why he has even mentioned us - bothered with us at all is something. The volume of issues that Man is dealing with right now he casts his mind to the UK?
Maybe its just the news we get here relates to us - but I would be very surprised he had been so invested in Norway for instance or Bulgaria or Malta.

I think in pragmatic terms - its excellent we seem to be so much on this new Presidents mind. If Mulloch is made EU Ambassador it will be a huge coup for us, he is a strident Brexiteer.

However I also agree very much with a recent article in Spectator someone linked on another thread which was cautious as to what would actually come off. There are many reasons why a good deal may not happen.
For the time being, for the immediate future/ in our dealings with the EU however Trump making positive overtures to us - is a good thing.

He has been very clear about his America first stance. I don't think Gove & co should get too excited.

Unfortunately it’s not online (yet) but Albert Scardino has an interesting article in the New European (20-26 Jan) going through the existing trade situation between the US and UK - we don’t have many manufactured or agricultural goods the US needs, nor vice versa. Our biggest exports to the US are gas turbines and single malts. Not much else, apart from things like horses and art. Hardly anything that needs a trade agreement. “A new agreement would produce not much more than a photo op for two political leaders who are busy isolating themselves from their biggest commercial partners.”

Our biggest export to the USA is cars as it happens, with 10% import duty which Trump is talking about raising to 35%.

The point about a trade agreement though is that it allows a market to develop in goods (and services) where there currently isn't much of a market because of current trade barriers.

For example, the US doesn't currently export much agricultural produce to the UK because of EU tariffs and barriers - including (as I understand it) requirements for animal welfare which the US can't meet. If a US-UK trade agreement lowered those standards we could be swamped with low-welfare, steroid-fed US meat.

I wonder whether our new trade deal with Trump will be better or worse than the deal the EU would have got for us with TTIP?

If it is better, that is good news and we then just need to get making more things to export (although I believe we are substantially a net surplus exporter to the US under the current trade deals in place).

If it is less good, then serious questions need to be asked before we congratulate ourselves too much.

its excellent we seem to be so much on this new Presidents mind.

I would have to disagree there. I suspect that what is on the President's mind (assuming he has one) is "these are a bunch of suckers, how can I screw them over?" The obvious one being their healthcare providers moving in on the NHS.

If a US-UK trade agreement lowered those standards we could be swamped with low-welfare, steroid-fed US meat.

This is so horrifying. I really don't want USA quality meat here in the U.K.

Among other things.

I agree, Peregrina

Completely agree peregrina. Trump has made it very clear America will be put first and I'm sure he just thinks we'll be so desperate to trade with them we'll accept any terms.

If a US-UK trade agreement lowered those standards we could be swamped with low-welfare, steroid-fed US meat

Yuk but you do realise there are very different animal welfare standards across the EU don't you?
Only today article about pigs being abused in Italy and pig farming in Holland and Poland is atrocious. UK has excellent pig welfare generally and no cages.

"I wonder whether our new trade deal with Trump will be better or worse than the deal the EU would have got for us with TTIP? "

Even if we hadn't put ourselves in the position of being desperate for a deal, the answer has to be "worse" simply because of scale.

This is so horrifying. I really don't want USA quality meat here in the U.K

Yeah US nasty meat is an awful prospect but its fine to ship it in from the EU Bizarre.

www.ciwf.org.uk/our-campaigns/investigations/eu-pig-investigations-2013/

In 2013 Compassion visited 45 pig farms across the EU. We went south to Italy and Spain; south-east to Cyprus; west to Ireland; and east to Poland and the Czech Republic. On every single farm we found the laws put in place to protect pig welfare were being flouted – the suffering was hard to witness.

We believe aspects of the Pigs Directive are being blatantly ignored all across the EU, inflicting illegal cruelty on millions of intelligent and sensitive animals. There are over 140 million pigs in the EU at any one time. Sometimes the scale of the challenge we are facing seems overwhelming.

Animal welfare and food safety standards are higher in the EU than in the US.

You mean the written standards are higher - but in practice, the laws are flouted.

I am rather surprised that anyone concerned about animal welfare regulations being flouted would be happier to do away with the regulations altogether.

It's a bit like saying that people keep breaking the speed limit so let's get rid of speed limits and see how that works out.

Debbie - we know that abuses are going on in animal welfare - they happen in this country to. What seems likely to happen is that a trade deal with the US will enforce those lower standards. How will you feel then, when instead of just being Holland and Poland, it's much of the UK's farming industry?

I am bewildered by your enthusiasm for Trump - a rapist and xenophobic liar.

Some more on food safety regs in the EU vs US

www.ecowatch.com/13-ways-the-eu-beats-the-u-s-on-food-safety-1881850175.html

I think Trump is looking to give the UK a good trade deal to show two fingers to the EU who have been quite nasty to him.

Also, the UK has certain things the US wants, like pharm research in stem cells, access to London for financial markets and certain sectors of manufacturing. Cars exported to the US are generally high end (Rolls, bentley, Morgan and aston Martins). Its a very niche market that I think Trump would waive the import tax on. US car manufacturers are more focused on VW (including audi and porsche), Renault, Fiat and Mercedes.

Regarding the meat, I think the USDA does a better job of labelling compared to the UK/EU. Of course animal welfare in countries like Poland is shoddy. It is why the end product is cheaper. I find it funny that newspapers are focused on conditions when the big story is how certain countries such as spain give human antibiotics to pigs in enormous doses. You are supposed to use agricultural antibiotics, not human ones, as lower doses are needed (they change the carrier for agricultural antibiotics apparently).

I don't doubt food safety regs are better in the EU but thing is - how much weight does that carry if they are not being carried out on the ground?

You can put into writing all the regs you want - not much good if there is no will to carry them out . Horse meat scandal anyone?

You seem to be referring to a specific proposal to 100% lower food standards, in the UK which among so many other areas has high standards for animal welfare and is getting better all the time.

If you are referring to a specific proposal please link to it. Otherwise its scaremongering conjecture.

I am bewildered by your enthusiasm for Trump - a rapist and xenophobic liar

A rapist? Wow - a convicted Rapist is not POTUS, extraordinary?!

Trump may want to give a trade deal in certain areas, but stem cell research and the profitability of London financial markets are likely to be two areas which suffer with Brexit.

High end cars should be alright, but there will be a limit as to how many we can sell.

In case anyone missed Trump's response to Gove's question about being at the front of the queue, it was:

"....you're doing great."

"....you're doing great."

This is so reassuring.

So you think it's better to have lower food safety standards?