Remember when Boris Johnson claimed the UK was “first in line” for a free trade deal with the US back in 2017?
Tory MP Andrew Griffith has criticised Labour over failing to agree a US trade deal during the six months since Donald Trump became President — only to be reminded by a journalist that his party had years to secure one.
The shadow business and trade secretary said that he hoped the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has been in Washington this week, would come back with a trade deal tomorrow, adding “we could have even had one earlier”.
Griffith said that “damage is being done right now” due to the lack of a trade deal and the tariffs the US has imposed on UK imports, including cars, steel and aluminium and other goods.
But Sky News presenter Anna Jones quickly pointed out: “The Tories had years to do a deal with the US and didn’t manage it.”
The MP for Arundel and South Downs, who has held several senior roles in the party, including as Boris Johnson’s chief business advisor in 2019, said: “We actually came very close”.
Jones pointed out again: “Well you didn’t manage it, and she’s only had a few months.”
During the Brexit campaign, leave campaigners claimed that the UK would easily be able to sign a new trade deal with the US.
However, Barack Obama warned that leaving the EU would put the UK at the back of the queue for any such deal.
Just before Trump took office in 2017, Boris Johnson confidently claimed that the UK was “first in line” for a free trade deal with the US after voting for Brexit. He described 2017 as an “exciting year for both our countries,” hinting that a deal could be struck within that year — but of course, it never materialised.
Griffith then argued that the Tories had not been able to secure a US trade deal because former President Joe Biden’s policy was “no trade deals” until he had invested in the US first.
However, the Tories had four years under Trump’s first presidency to secure a deal.
Griffith admitted himself: “The policy of this administration is to do trade deals, as it was with the first Trump administration.”
He still went on to say: “I don’t think you can blame anyone in the UK government at that time when the US policy was no trade deals.”
Reeves has made clear that the UK won’t be rushing into a trade deal with the US, and will be priortising reach an agreement that serves “our national interest”. She also repeated that she won’t be making concessions on food standards to strike a deal.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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