Ambassador casts doubt on bilateral trade deal if May’s plan succeeds
A “massive bilateral trade deal” between Britain and America is unlikely to be possible if Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal succeeds, the US ambassador to the UK has claimed.
Woody Johnson said US president Donald Trump would look positively at an outcome which enabled America to strike major trade agreements with the UK. But he cautioned that if the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement were to succeed in Parliament, then negotiating a “quick” and “massive”
trade deal between the US and UK “doesn’t look like it would be possible”.
Mr Johnson said in a radio interview yesterday: “He [Mr Trump] is looking forward to and hoping that the environment will lead to the ability of the US to do a quick, very massive bilateral trade deal that could be the precursor of future trade deals with other countries around the world for Great Britain that will really take you way, way into an exciting future.
“We are still going through the stages of deciding where exactly the country is going. If it goes in a way that allows these kind of agreements to occur then I think that will be very positive in the president’s eyes.”
But asked if such a deal would be possible if Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement is agreed, Mr Johnson said: “It doesn’t look like it would be possible.”