Greg Wright: Why our special relationship with Trump may end in tears

IF you believe the hype, we could be witnessing a golden age in relations between the UK and US, which brings back memories of the days when Thatcher and Reagan were the world's most powerful double act.
US President Donald Trump  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)US President Donald Trump  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
US President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The new US President has wasted little time in courting our Prime Minister, and many analysts are saluting the eye-watering potential of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

One lawyer has even predicted that the North of England could help Britain to become “Singapore on steroids” by engaging with American powerbrokers.

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So it pains me to burst this bubble of optimism and point out that any agreement with the US could be horribly one-sided, and cause lasting harm to British interests unless we take a firm and principled stance at the negotiating table. It’s folly to believe that any ‘special relationship’ forged with Donald Trump will automatically serve the best interests of our farmers and industrialists.

Mr Trump was elected on an ‘America first’ platform and there’s no reason to believe that his administration will prove accommodating if it feels Britain’s interests are not aligned with the US.

Not least of our concerns must relate to the quality of Mr Trump’s judgement and his grasp of economic realities. Trump’s order to impose restrictions on people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US caused howls of rage around the world. It also brought chaos to the US business interests he is supposed to defend.

Some leaders from the US technology industry, which is a major employer of foreign workers, denounced the order as immoral and un-American.

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Suddenly, the US has become a more insular, unwelcoming place, with or without our “special relationship”.

Mr Trump will argue that he is simply doing the job he was elected to do, and keeping his promises to the people who voted for him.

But the fact that one of Mr Trump’s first acts as President wrong-footed his allies, and apparently, his own officials, is not an encouraging sign.

It seems reasonable to conclude that Mr Trump’s team will bring an uncompromising spirit to the table when they negotiate a trade deal with the UK.

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After the meeting between Mr Trump and Mrs May, the Prime Minister’s team was delighted to announce that “President Trump pledged to ensure that the trade arrangements that the UK currently has with the US through its membership of the EU will continue in place at the moment the United Kingdom leaves”.

But can we really believe that any new deal will simply be a ‘scissors and paste’ job? If that’s the case, why have any talks at all? We already have low tariffs with the US, so any debate will probably focus on relaxing rules governing the flow of capital.

There are three areas of concern. Firstly, organisations such as Global Justice Now – which campaigns on humanitarian and trade issues – are worried that a potential new trade deal between the US and UK could strip away regulations on genetic modification, antibiotics and hormone use in farming.

It’s feared that this could mean that British farmers become locked in an unequal struggle with US agribusinesses.

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Some observers also fear that US authorities might seek to overturn regulations that force foreign companies to keep data on local servers. It’s claimed that this might allow Silicon Valley industries to move the data of UK residents to the US, where they don’t have to abide by European laws on data privacy.

Trump has denounced climate change as a hoax, so it’s unlikely that his officials will be keen to sign any deal that favours renewable technology over old-fashioned fossil fuels.

That’s a sobering prospect for the UK’s green energy sector. The chaotic scenes at US airports over the weekend could be a portent of more troubling times ahead.