Warning over US-Britain trade deal

A TRADE deal with Britain is currently a low priority, the US commerce secretary has indicated.

Wilbur Ross cited barriers such as the general election and Brexit negotiations.

He also said there were ‘bandwidth issues’, suggesting that the UK may not be used to negotiations as ‘they haven’t negotiated a trade deal in a long, long time’.

The comments are the highest level sign so far from the White House that Theresa May could be let down by Donald Trump on trade.

During their meeting in Washington in January, the US President sounded a different tone and said that they were going to begin trade talks immediately.

Mr Ross told the Wall Street Journal that the US is now merely considering reopening such discussions with the UK. The US is also looking at new trade talks with China, South Korea and the EU.

Mr Ross said Britain first had to negotiate with the EU before America would do a deal. A good trade deal with the US is crucial for Mrs May and would show she can get the best for post-Brexit Britain. But the US has the advantage as it is a stronger export destination for British goods than vice versa.

The country is the UK’s biggest overseas market after the EU, with a fifth of British goods and services sold abroad going to the US – a market worth £96.5billion.

The comments by Mr Ross come after reports that Britain had been pushed behind the EU in the queue to do trade deals. Mr Trump supposedly changed his mind after meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel last month at the White House and now believes a US-EU trade deal would be simpler than one with Britain.

However there have been contradictory signals from the Trump administration and last week House Speaker Paul Ryan – the most powerful Republican in Congress – said Britain could get a swift trade agreement.

At a speech in London, Mr Ryan praised ‘bold’ Mrs May and said a deal would ‘further tap into the great potential between our two people’.