A senior trade figure in Donald Trump’s administration has delivered a sharp message to Britain, claiming the UK is squandering the opportunities of Brexit and effectively picking “Brussels over America.”
Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, said the UK had not made the most of leaving the European Union, arguing that ministers were continuing to shadow EU regulations while keeping parts of the British market difficult for American exporters to access.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Greer said that was the conclusion Washington had drawn from its dealings with London. He recalled telling UK officials: “You’re free of the EU. Why don’t you liberalise a little bit, accept goods made to American standards, accept agricultural goods made to American standards?”
But, according to Greer, the response from the British side has often been cautious. He said officials had indicated they needed to “wait and see what the EU says about it,” adding that such an approach was “a problem” for the United States and made trade talks more difficult.
When asked directly whether Britain was using Brexit to strengthen its trade position, Greer gave a terse answer: “No, they’re not.”
Six years after the UK formally left the European Union, both sides have been pushing for a deeper relationship with each other.
All the while, Trump has been rattling longstanding allies by threatening to impose harsh tariffs on the EU, seize the Danish territory of Greenland and curb America’s support for Nato.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled his intent to get closer to the EU, telling parliament on Wednesday that Brexit has hurt the UK.
Donald Trump announcing his initial round of tariffs at the White House in April last year
At a London meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, he promised to work on the ‘UK’s drive to get closer to Europe’.
Mr Burnham has promised to sign a deal that would remove border checks on UK food and drink exports to the EU, as part of the UK’s ‘reset’ with the continent.
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These rules require Britain to comply with strict EU food standards that the US has long seen as protectionist and against their interests.
Many US products, including chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-raised beef, cannot be sold in the UK, meaning that Mr Burnham’s deal would effectively block the UK from importing American food items.
On top of this, the UK has also pushed back on US demands that the government recognise American industrial goods standards.
Despite these problems, Mr Greer said he has a ‘good relationship’ with UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and that an early trade deal between Washington and London was ‘beneficial to both sides’ and a ‘good early harvest’.
But he said that the main ‘sticking points’ in talks between the two Western nations were over agricultural and farm goods.
He said: ‘The UK has had free access into the US agricultural market, where we’ve had very limited access on the US side into the UK agricultural market.’
Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, (pictured, centre) has accused the UK of failing to take advantage of Brexit by aligning with EU rules
Last week, sources told the Mail that Canada is looking to expand its trade links with Britain as its latest trade war with the US pushes it to other allies and wean itself off its southern neighbour.
‘I think if you asked anyone in the government, they would all say they are very supportive of this CANZUK idea,’ one source said, adding the UK and Canada had a ‘historic opportunity’ to bolster trade ties, saying both had become ‘estranged’ from their largest trading partners, the US and EU respectively.
While the change of Prime Minister and cabinet reshuffle had made trade discussions ‘difficult’, Canadian diplomatic sources were upbeat, saying: ‘Burnham’s government is relatively new and finding its feet, but in preliminary discussions we’re sensing a real openness and desire to move on that.’
Britain is Canada’s third-largest trading partner but talks to ramp up that co-operation have taken on fresh urgency after Donald Trump announced a fresh wave of tariffs on the country after a previous spate of levies last year.