Joe Biden has shelved plans for a pact with Britain that could have paved the way for a full post-Brexit trade deal.
The US president has decided not to move forward with a “foundational” agreement prepared by the US Trade Representative’s Office, that would have included negotiations over 11 areas of trade and regulation, following opposition from his own party in the Senate.
Senate Democrats argued that it would not have provided sufficient protection for American workers, Politico reported.
The UK’s hopes for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US date from before the Brexit referendum, and faced an early setback when Barack Obama told voters that Britain would be “at the back of the queue” for a deal if it left the EU.
But despite US support for an FTA in the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency in 2016, the chance of a deal has now fallen to “zero” under Mr Biden, the Government believes.
If only there was something we could do to give us more clout in these trade negotiations. Like - hear me out - if we could club together with a bunch of other friendly mid-sized economies and negotiate collectively with Washington on that basis.
But then we’d have to rename British sausages to emulsified offal tubes. The public won’t have it.
Something something straight bananas
Of course if we did that we wouldn’t need to negotiate with Washington.
It’s not actually a good economic partner it’s miles away why would we trade with them when there is a perfectly convenient continent about half an hour across the ocean?
You mean The Channel. Its not big enough to be an ocean, you can even swim it!
I think you might be on to something. It could also possibly allow for the ability to pass regulations on predatory practices by big tech.
Awww who am I kidding, that’s a fantasy land, maybe if the UK allows companies to pump more sewage into the waterways America will want to trade then.
But but… Empire strong?
Unironically , it might just got stronger.
If only we could invest into ourselves instead of importing dangerous shit.
That would cost the NHS so much money
You mean like the continent next door to us, mainland Europe?
That’s a bit far-fetched isn’t it?
It’s almost like this Brexit lark was a bad idea.
If only someone had told us we’d be at the back of the line…
Good tbh, last thing we want is America dictating even more of our trade rules.
Yeah you guys seem perfectly capable of fucking things up on your own.
Only the economy, civil rights, legal aid, the immigration system, the pension scheme, the NHS, policing, environmental protection laws, human rights, building safety standards, and anti-corruption laws.
Actually the food safety laws are pretty strong. Weirdly.
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Pretty sure we knew that this was dead as soon as Trump got the boot. There was never really a deal it was always just Donald Trump and the PM of the minute making back from deals that didn’t really have any concrete benefits for either country.
It’s not exactly shocking that it’s dead again.
This is probably Labor’s fault as well somehow
Corbyn could have tried to stop brexit but didn’t. Twice.
It was a non-binding vote that barely passed. It should never have been acted on. What other foreign treaties have been presented to the general public for a vote? People literally have never voted on something like this before. That’s why we elect representatives.
If big issues are just going to be presented directly to voters, wtf are the representatives there for?
I agree.
Tbf we voted our way into the EU. but a generation had passed and nobody had any clue what the EU was.
Corbyn should have just campaigned on and pulled a second refurrendum, which would have almost certainly returned “remain”, also perhaps teaming up with the lib Dems. Instead he sat on the fence on the main issue.
There would have been some amusing riots, a vote of no confidence in the government and probably a UKIP lead government in that case.
And yes, I was a Remainer who marched fir a second vote
I mean I’m kinda glad tbh, I can’t think of an easier way for our food standards to go down the drain than with the Tories penning an FTA with the US
You mean you don’t like the idea of an authorised no of rat hairs and cockroach guts per ton of peanut butter?
So much for the special relationship
This is precisely in line with the special relationship: the UK gives the US what it wants and in return, the US gets what it wants.
I would like to say something in return, but all I can think of is Americans driving Brits to death or into hospital and then America giving the middle finger to Britons asking for justice.
Not just a random American, a CIA spy who outranked her husband.
Wasn’t there another one that knocked down an old lady last week too?
Yep, the next day Sky News posted photos of the guy’s house in the states, in a kinda “you’re not anonymous mate” way.
it would not have provided sufficient protection for American workers
There’s some irony, considering from this side of the pond, it doesn’t look as if they have any…
When they say American workers, they mean ones that own the factories and offices, not the actual workers in them.
In this context, read “investors in American corporations”.
In deals like this, for the average person it tends to be a matter of “jobs vs prices”. Imports in effect can place a soft cap on domestic prices, while it’s also possible that a significant influx of imported goods could displace the jobs of domestic workers (and I don’t wish to downplay the significance of that burden on those affected), usually this demographic of “lost job due to business drying up thanks to imports and trade deals” is small in comparison to “experienced lower prices due to increased competition”.
I’d even venture a speculation that even in cases where jobs are lost in these situations, it’s probably just as often “corporate leadership preserving margins by reducing workforce and asking more productivity of the remainder” than actual proportional loss of market share.
When the state of your workers’ rights is so poor that the USA refuses to do a trade deal with you because of it.
