President-elect Trump promised to negotiate a “fair” trade deal with the United Kingdom, softening the economic blow of the British decision to leave the European Union.
“I love the UK,” Trump told The Sunday Times in his first interview with the British press. “I will be meeting with” UK Prime Minister Theresa May. “She’s requesting a meeting and we’ll have a meeting right after I get into the White House and it’ll be, I think we’re gonna get something done very quickly.”
Trump’s announcement is an expected reversal of President Obama’s warning that the UK would be at the “back of the queue” if they voted to leave the European Union. It will also be an early test of Trump’s ability to negotiate a trade agreement that satisfies economic imperatives while delivering benefits to the working-class voters who form the core of his political base.
“We’re gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly,” he said. “Good for both sides.”
Trump’s opposition to existing trade deals fueled some of his success in the presidential election, particularly as Obama’s team concluded negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal with 11 Pacific Rim countries.
“The incompetence and dishonesty of the President, his administration and—perhaps most disturbing—the Congress of the United States are about to place American jobs and the very livelihoods of Americans at risk,” he said after that terms of the deal were finalized. “Why is there no effort to make sure we have fair trade instead of ‘free’ trade that isn’t free to Americans?”
Congress never ratified TPP, as grassroots movements in both parties turned against the deal. The lawmakers did pass a related bill providing “fast-track” trade promotion authority to the White House — legislation that would allow a trade deal to be ratified with just a simple majority of votes in Congress — over Trump’s objections.
“The Senate must NOT pass TPA!” Trump tweeted when the fast-track bill was being debated in the summer of 2015, just weeks after he entered the presidential race. “Any Senator who votes for it is disqualified for being POTUS. Protect the American worker and manufacturer!”
Now that same fast-track measure will benefit Trump’s negotiations with the UK. Although that bill was passed with the short-term goal of facilitating the ratification of the trade agreement with the Pacific Rim countries, it gave the president “fast-track” authority for six years, meaning that Trump will have expanded power to negotiate trade agreements for the next four years.
“We hear that we are first in line to do a great free trade deal with the United States,” UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said last week after meeting with the Trump team. “So, it’s going to be a very exciting year for both our countries.”
