WITH the Withdrawal Agreement Bill having safely passed the Commons this week, we can be sure that the UK will finally leave the EU on 31st January. We can now move on, at long last, to negotiate the comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU that is in the best interests of both sides.
But as we do so, it is vital that we also accelerate negotiations with other countries around the world, and especially the United States. If our negotiations with the US and the EU are not concurrent, we run the risk that the EU will drag its heels in order to keep the UK snared up in European regulations. If that occurs, the UK and the US will have lost a significant opportunity to show the world that we are serious about doing things differently.
The US has been one of the strongest forces for liberalised trade on Earth. A deal with the UK – a country at a similar socio-economic level so there can be no race to the bottom, a country where there is a balanced trade relationship – is the ideal candidate for its bilateral agenda, and vice versa. We are each other’s largest source of foreign direct investment. We both employ over 1 million of each other’s citizens.
These strong economic ties are founded upon a deep, enduring bond between our two countries. We are united by our history, our culture and – pace Oscar Wilde – our language. We have a shared system of values. The British Council recently surveyed young Americans, who ranked the UK first against seven other major countries for: “being a force for good in the world”, “valuing individual liberty; and being a strong example of a democratic society.” We have shared interests in sectors like defence, intelligence financial services, and pharmaceuticals where our industries form part of an integrated whole.
A UK-US trade deal will be enormously beneficial for both countries. As the UK emerges once again as an independent player on the global regulatory stage, we can make the case for free trade afresh, working with our allies against those who seek to suppress the extraordinary efforts in wealth creation that have lifted so many out of poverty since 1945.
But we must act now. Given the pressure on the Presidential timetable with an election coming, I very much hope that the Prime Minister will visit the US very soon to advance negotiations and take full advantage of the unique chances which Brexit presents. With the US so prepared to negotiate in earnest, the Government must press on with both US and EU talks in parallel and ignore advice for the EU negotiations to be concluded first.
