Who wants to trade with britain?
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has downplayed any prospect of an imminent trade deal with a post-Brexit Britain.
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In an interview with BBC radio broadcast on Thursday, Blinken said any deal would take “some time” and that US President Joe Biden wants to ensure any trade agreement would benefit American workers and their families.
One of the main arguments of Brexit supporters in the run-up to the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU in 2016 was the prospect of a swift trade deal with the US.
The EU and the US do not have an overarching trade agreement but they do have a series of bilateral deals to ease trade, such as on aviation.
Though the US is the world’s largest economy, Britain’s trade with the EU is far higher as a proportion of its annual GDP. That’s why it was a priority for the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to negotiate an agreement that ensured that tariffs were not put up on trade between the UK and the EU.
Though tariffs have been avoided, there are numerous non-tariff barriers, such as customs checks, that hinder trade and add costs to businesses.
“We want to make sure that, whether it’s with the United Kingdom or the EU, whether it’s anything we’re doing, that we make sure that the tremendous gains from the Good Friday Agreement are sustained and that the economic as well the political well-being of Northern Ireland is taken fully into account.”