US trade talks

The report on the recent meeting between President Trump and the EU’S Jean-claude Juncker on trade brought a couple of facts to mind.

The first is the much-resented statement by President Obama about our place in the queue for a trade deal with the US. This US/EU statement confirms there are more important deals to be struck and we may be at the back of the line.

Much more resonant and important is the reference to soy beans. The US history there is of an export embargo in the early 1970s. This vitiated contracts with UK and Dutch importers among others and let US suppliers use force majeure as the reason for profitably reneging on contracts.

I suppose “gazumping” remains part of Trump’s art of the deal. UK oil seed producers will probably be glad of the EU cover for their backs in this area rather than our environmentally-minded minister.

L. V. MCEWAN St Albans Road, Edinburgh

For those concerned about a hard Brexit I have been doing some reassuring calculations. Scotland currently produces around one million tonnes of potatoes from approximately 27,000 hectares of land. Over 400,000 hectares are devoted to other crops.

Putting, say, 100,000 hectares more under potatoes would

yield over 5lb per day of same for every Scot.

With added minerals and vitamins this is a more than adequate diet. Obesity, except of the utterly committed, would be a thing of the past. We would ony need one cookbook.

DAVID HOGG Glanville Place, Edinburgh