Britain’s hopes of early post-Brexit trade deal
with US appear dashed
Little likelihood of progress on free-trade agreement
as Biden focuses attention elsewhere, say insiders
Heather
Stewart Political editor
Tue 21 Sep
2021 22.00 BST
Britain’s
hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US have all but evaporated barring a
dramatic change of heart from Joe Biden, it emerged on Tuesday as Boris Johnson
held face-to-face talks in the White House.
Johnson
once regarded a bilateral free trade agreement with the US as a key Brexit win,
highlighting the prospects for British exporters unfettered from the EU. But
government insiders privately concede that they see little prospect of progress
towards a one-to-one deal, as the Biden administration focuses on other
priorities.
When
Johnson was asked on Tuesday whether he still hoped to strike a free-trade
agreement with the US by the time of the next general election, opening the way
to lower tariffs and a closer economic relationship, he said “we’re going as
fast as we can”, but declined to confirm whether it could be achieved before
2024.
When the US
president was asked about the prospects of a deal as the pair met in the Oval
Office, he said: “We’re going to talk about trade a little bit today, and we’re
going to have to work that through.”
The UK is
now understood to be considering alternative options, including seeking to join
the US-Canada-Mexico trade deal instead of striking a bilateral agreement with
Washington.
A senior
government source said: “There are a variety of different ways to do this. The
question is whether the US administration is ready. The ball is in the US’s
court. It takes two to tango.”
The
government is understood to have made the point to the US that after signing a
string of recent bilateral agreements, Britain now has closer trade relations
with Canada or Mexico than the US despite the so-called special relationship.
Later on in
the bilateral talks, the pair exchanged gifts. Johnson gave Biden a signed copy
of astronaut Tim Peak’s book, Hello, is this Planet Earth?, inscribed by Peake
with the message: “I hope this book provides a reminder of what we are fighting
to save as our countries battle climate change together”.
Biden gave
the prime minister a framed photograph of them at the Carbis Bay G7 summit
earlier this year – and a White House-branded watch.
Johnson was
keen to showcase the strength of his relationship with Biden on his US trip
after a fraught summer in which the UK appeared to be denied key information
about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has claimed the US-UK partnership
is at its strongest for “decades”.
Biden also
underlined the importance of ensuring peace in Northern Ireland is not
jeopardised by post-Brexit tensions.
“I feel
very strongly,” he said. “We spent an enormous amount of time and effort in the
United States. It was a major partisan effort, and I would not like to see –
nor would many of my Republican colleagues – a change in the Irish accord”.
Speaking to
US broadcaster NBC on Tuesday, Johnson played down differences with Biden over
the Afghanistan withdrawal, which led to the Taliban capturing Kabul and the
chaotic evacuation.
Asked if he
had been forced to wait 36 hours to speak to Biden directly about the situation
in Afghanistan, he said: “I don’t discuss my calls with other leaders but to
the best of my recollection we talked very frankly about the whole thing.”
Pressed on
whether he agreed with Biden’s decision to set and stick to a date for the
withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, he said: “America has been there for
20 years and it’s a respectable argument to say ‘enough is enough’.” He added:
“Could we have done things differently? Perhaps we could.”
The foreign
secretary, Liz Truss, who is travelling with Johnson, said she hoped to link
trade and diplomacy more closely in her new role, highlighting the potential
for UK jobs from the Aukus security deal announced last week.
Trade was
not among the issues Downing Street highlighted before the discussion between Johnson
and Biden, who met in the Oval Office. Instead, the prime minister was expected
to raise the climate crisis, Aukus and details of the US’s new travel regime.
The UK had
appeared blindsided by the travel announcement on Monday, with Johnson warning journalists
en route to the US that “I wouldn’t hold your breath” for developments this
week.
As he
arrived in Washington by train from New York, Johnson welcomed Biden’s
announcement of a significant increase in US climate funding for developing
countries, raising the prospect that the $100bn (£73bn) target set a decade ago
could be reached before the Cop26 summit in November.
Biden told
the UN general assembly that the US would double its contribution, from $5.6bn
to $11.2bn. Johnson said the announcement was “game changing,” and he wanted to
see similar levels of ambition from other rich countries.
The US and
UK have worked closely on the climate but little progress has been made in
recent months on deepening trade ties. Biden only appointed a chief
agricultural trade negotiator, Elaine Trevino, last week, and has not yet
appointed a new ambassador to London. Agriculture would be likely to be a key
element of any deal.
Meeting
Kamala Harris, the vice-president, before seeing Biden, the prime minister said
there had been “real progress” on trade, citing the lifting of the “curious” US
ban on exports of British beef.
He also
praised the US decision to double its contribution to climate financing. “Today
was a great day for the world, he said. Harris replied: “It was.”
Johnson
will remain in Washington overnight and meet a string of senior congressional
figures on Wednesday, including House speaker Nancy Pelosi, fresh from a visit
to the Chorley constituency of her UK counterpart, Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker
of the House of Commons.
After the
scramble to pull out of Afghanistan, Conservative MPs warned the prime minister
that bilateral relations with the UK had been allowed to deteriorate since
Biden’s election, and urged him to deepen connections with the new White House.
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