TRUMP TRIGGERS NHS STORM
President says health service will be ‘on table’ in trade talks
‘Better negotiator than I am’
DONALD Trump opened a row about a transatlantic trade deal last night by warning he would put the NHS ‘on the table’ in any negotiations.
The US President said the two countries could clinch a ‘phenomenal’ pact that could see commerce treble to £2.4 trillion.
But his statement that ‘ everything’ would be up for grabs, including the health service, caused an immediate backlash. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who is bidding to be prime minister, said the NHS would never be up for negotiation ‘on my watch’.
Trade issues dominated talks between Mrs May and Mr Trump in Downing Street, with both leaders voicing optimism that a major deal could be clinched quickly after the UK left the EU.
The Prime Minister spoke of ‘ huge opportunities’, adding: ‘It is a great partnership but I think a partnership we can take even further. Of course that is with a good bilateral trade deal.’
But Mrs May moved swiftly to warn the US President the NHS was likely to be a no-go zone for trade negotiators, given its protected status in British politics.
The row came as Mr Trump:
■ Branded Jeremy Corbyn a ‘negative force’ and refused to meet him after the Labour leader condemned his state visit to the UK;
■ Held a beauty parade for would-be successors to Mrs May, asking Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt to private talks;
■ Praised the Queen and said Britain and the US had forged ‘the greatest alliance the world has ever known’.
■ Urged Mrs May’s successor to find a way out of the EU.
■ Told Nato countries to increase their financial contributions to the alliance.
■ Dismissed protests against his visit by thousands of demonstrators, describing reports as ‘fake news’.
Mr Trump, one of the few world leaders to back Brexit, has criticised Mrs May’s approach in the past and previously advised her to ‘sue the EU’.
But, at their final press conference yesterday, he praised her, saying she had ‘brought Brexit to a very good point where something will happen soon’.
He added: ‘I would have sued. I would have sued and settled, maybe, but you never know. She’s probably a better negotiator than I am. She has got it, in a sense – that deal is teed up, I think they have to do something.
‘Perhaps you won’t be given the credit you deserve if they do something, but I think you deserve a lot of credit.’
The US President, who has urged Britain to throw off the ‘shackles’ of the EU, underlined the potential for a ‘very, very substantial trade deal’ with the US.
But controversy has surrounded the idea, with critics warning that it could involve the creeping privatisation of the NHS and force the UK to accept US farm products such as chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef.
Asked whether the talks could include the NHS, Mr Trump replied: ‘I think everything with a trade deal is on the table. When you’re dealing in trade everything is on the table so NHS or anything else, a lot more than that, but everything will be on the table, absolutely.’
Kate Andrews, of the free market Institute for Economic Affairs, claimed the NHS issue was ‘a storm in a tea cup’.
She added: ‘America is not interested in providing NHS services, but rather expanding the drugs market, potentially widening access to medicine in the UK. American companies can already bid, and win, NHS contracts.
‘What the US proposes for a trade agreement is the starting position, not the final conclusion.
But Mr Hancock on Twitter said: ‘Dear Mr President. The NHS isn’t on the table in trade talks – and never will be. Not on my watch.’
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who is another leadership rival, said: ‘The NHS is not for sale.’
Labour health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘The prospect of US corporations taking over our NHS is a nightmare scenario.’