A US trade deal is a great prize of Brexit
The cry of Remainers is that there is no point doing a US/UK trade deal. It wouldn’t compensate us for leaving the EU, they insist, and it would result in American goods swamping our market. The May government failed to correct this false narrative because it believed in it – and so a brilliant opportunity was squandered, a chance to prepare a mutually enriching deal with America and show that Brexit has a powerful economic rationale, that it can over time be harnessed to free up trade across the globe. The idea that Brexit is a protectionist project is one of the great myths underpinning the Remain world view. On the contrary, Britain wants the freest possible trade with every country. The problem is an EU that insists it can only have free trade with us if it can also control our laws and our taxes.
Thankfully Boris Johnson is on top of his brief and he details to this newspaper some of the things he wants to see the UK selling to the US market – not just British lamb and beef, currently banned, but bell peppers and Melton Mowbray pork pies. There are tariffs on cars and railway carriages; wallpaper, pillows and other fabrics have to be fire-tested again when they arrive in the US. Even the entrance of cauliflower is limited to specific ports. If anyone wants to sell insurance in the US, the PM says they have to go through 50 regulators. This is bad for British businesses but bad, too, for American consumers, who are denied some of the very best goods and services. Competition pushes up quality and drives down prices.
Of course, in every negotiation there is give and take – and the US will be looking to compete more fairly within our markets, too. The NHS, however, is not up for sale. It never was: there is no part of such a trade deal that threatens the fundamental structure of the NHS (although it is deeply flawed and could do with reform), and US companies operate within our healthcare system already. The paranoia stoked by Remainers around this issue is exactly why the Prime Minister needs to be so specific, to fight fantasies with hard facts. Mr Johnson is fully aware of the magnitude of the task ahead, but at least, unlike his predecessor, he knows what success would look like. He understands what kind of deal Britain needs with the US.