The invitation by US President Donald Trump to seal a “phenomenal trade deal” between the United States and the United Kingdom after his departure from the EU was met with extreme caution by the British Parliament.
On an official visit to London on 3 and 4 June, Mr Trump recalled on Tuesday his ambitions to seal a global agreement with his British partner. The US President was very early in favour of a no-deal Brexit, promising in exchange an ambitious transatlantic agreement. While outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed her country's willingness to negotiate an “ambitious” agreement with Washington, the British Parliament's International Trade Committee considered that hasty negotiations between the two sides would be a “catastrophic error”.
“It would be a catastrophic error for the Government to rush into negotiations with the US without a comprehensive trade strategy”, said Committee Chair Angus MacNeil.
Recalling the results of his committee's inquiry into these bilateral trade relations, he highlighted “hugely complex” issues, in addition to questions of agricultural standards.
Moreover, the economic gains that the British could derive from such an agreement could be negligible, he also warned, “the Treasury’s own figures suggest it could bring about gains to GDP of as little as 0.2% in the long-term”, the Scottish MP also pointed out.
And to call on the government to ask itself a “simple question”: is such a negligible increase really worth putting so many areas of the UK economy on the table for?”
Several political figures have also taken up the defence of British public services, in particular the National Health Service, or NHS, which President Trump would also like to see on the table in future talks.
According to British sources, trade between the two countries amounts to £200 billion per year.
The report published by the UK Parliament's International Trade Committee is available at: https://bit.ly/2DZlDL1 (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)