Trump’s tough love tariffs have produced a massive ‘reciprocal’ trade deal with the United Kingdom.
Anxious, Prime Minister Kier Starmer was quick to the table after ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs were announced in March.
Relieved, he said that putting Britain in front of the queue has saved jobs.
‘My government has put Britain at the front of the queue because we want to work constructively with allies for mutual benefit rather than turning our back on the world.’
Suggesting a bonus, he added this was ‘jobs won, but not job done’.
‘Our teams will continue to work to build on this agreement.’
Starmer, whose popularity has spectacularly dropped since coming to power 10 months ago, explained that the deal will benefit key sectors of the British economy such as car manufacturing and steel.
Reform Leader Nigel Farage agreed in principle, telling the BBC that the outcome was ‘another benefit of Brexit’.
‘There’s a lot more detail to come out, but you know what? We’re heading in the right direction. And we have an American President who is pro-Britain and we can take this much further.’
Dubbed a Free Trade Agreement, the UK-US trade deal may help fortify Brexit.
Unpacking the agreement, the Birmingham Journal described the trade deal as an ‘essential part of the UK’s post-Brexit strategy’.
‘By diversifying Trade partners, the United Kingdom and US can mitigate dangers from depending too closely on the EU or different regions.’ No doubt, this includes regions such as China.
Reading a brief on the US-UK trade deal, Trump said signing the reciprocal agreement on the 80th Anniversary of the end of the second world war’s European theatre, was symbolic.
A White House fact sheet also cited Trump as saying:
‘This is now turning out to be, really, a great deal for both countries.’
When the Daily Wire asked if the deal requires assurances from Britain to protect free speech and religion.
The answer was no.
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s Secretary of Commerce, said: ‘The deal only focuses on the economy and business.’
Lutnick’s comments don’t bode well for Australians hoping the Trump administration will put more pressure on the Labor government to secure protections for God-given civil liberties in Australia. (See here.)
With the large amount of manufacturing potential and natural resources Australia has, it remains to be seen whether or not the returning Australian Labor government can broker a similar deal.
The Labor government would have to liberate Australia from its economic dependence on communist China, the same way Trump is fighting for America.
An unlikely scenario given Albanese’s socialist tendency to shy away from confrontations with communists in Beijing, in spite of Canberra’s familial, well-oiled relationship with Washington.
Albanese says he wants a deal and Trump is open to one. At least that’s what the ABC are telling us.
Even though the White House has said the UK-US trade agreement ‘sets the tone for other trading partners to promote reciprocal trade with the United States’, Australia is already on the back foot.
Malcolm Turnbull’s remarks about Trump being a ‘bully’ and Kevin Rudd’s mockery of the President’s tariffs have made any Australian trade delegations’ job a lot harder.
Like Malcolm Turnbull’s recent remarks, Kevin07’s smug, unsolicited public criticisms of the US President are not helpful. Despite Rudd deleting tweets, Trump doesn’t forget.
Trump might be naturally wary of Australian politics and wonder if the current Labor government shares the views of former leaders.
Consequently, Albanese, who once said Trump ‘scares the s*** out of him’ has little chance of scoring for Australia, anywhere close to the deal the UK just struck with the US.
