Seeking solid ties

THIS week the new American administration will start work on a trade deal with the UK, to be implemented when Britain leaves the EU. It is a welcome move, for any trade deal should increase the wealth and welfare of both partners, just as any trade restriction is likely to cut them.

The US is already Britain’s largest trading partner, larger than Germany, although overall trade with the EU is obviously much larger still. It is true too that trade with the US is in broad balance, while trade with the rest of the EU is in large deficit.

This deal will be part of a wider realignment of UK relations. We will catch more of a feeling for that after the visit of Theresa May to Washington later this week. Trade will be only one aspect of her discussions with the new president, but it is an important aspect and, whatever view one takes of Donald Trump, a close relationship with the US is helpful to the world. The UK will always remain a junior partner, but at the margin will have some influence on US policy, not just towards Europe but more generally towards the world beyond.

However, in going into these negotiations the UK team should remember three things. The first is that America will put America first.

The second is that there is no easy transformation of economic relations in store.

And the third point is the UK is useful to the US in part because of our relationship with Europe.

There will inevitably be a huge amount of attention paid to the choreography of the meeting between Trump and May, just as there has over the handover of power in the US over the past days. But we should be neither dismayed nor seduced by the details. What matters is that this quite new prime minister and this very new president have a businesslike working relationship. These are not going to be an easy few years, for obvious reasons. But a solid relationship between the UK and the US is in the interests of everyone, including the continent of Europe.