US trade fears

At the recent CBI conference Wilbur Ross, Donald Trump’s adviser, sent a chilling message to the delegates about any future US-UK trade deal after Brexit. It would hopeful- ly not take ten years to implement, but all would depend on how the details might benefit primarily the US. In particular, he stated that the UK needed to get ready for chlorinated chicken, GM crops and accept less rigorous US standards on science testing, car safety and food standards.

The fact that he had the temerity to deliver such a speech, which sounded quietly triumphalist, shows how precarious the position of global Britain is already. Like Donald Trump, he makes sure that America comes first.

No 10 is hemmed in. Any proposal to the EU on interim and final deals is wholly dependent on the EU as final arbiter. The current uncertainty about the future against current economic decline and weakening currency with higher interest rates, to focus on a few indicators, is causing silent panic in the usually Tory-friendly CBI. That will change to hysteria.

The EU has given the UK two weeks to put substance on the divorce bill. If not, then there can be no move towards the next stage in December and any future meeting of the Council of Ministers would possibly be February/march 2018, adding more uncertainty for leaders of industry, commerce and finance.

JOHN EDGAR Merrygreen Place, Stewarton