Hammond confident on U.S. trade deal

BRITAIN is confident it can reach a comprehensive trade deal with the US as soon as it is permitted to start formal negotiations by EU rules, the Chancellor said.

Speaking after talks with Paul Ryan, Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, and trade experts in the Trump administration, Philip Hammond said there was ‘very strong political momentum’ behind such a deal.

White House enthusiasm for a UK-US deal is a marked contrast with ex-President Barack Obama’s threat to send Britain to the ‘back of the queue’. Mr Hammond dismissed suggestions Britain could become part of a reformed North American Free Trade Agreement, a pact binding the US, Canada and Mexico.

There had been concern that President Trump’s ‘America First’ rhetoric would make it difficult to reach the kind of trade deal favoured by Brexiteers.

But Mr Hammond said: ‘We do not present a threat to the US. We are not a low wage economy.’