I don’t doubt that Donald Trump thinks it is a good thing to strike a deal with the U.K. that reduces his damaging tariffs on our products. But I don’t know what he might think about it in a month’s time, or a year’s time. If we’ve learnt one thing in the last decade of a Trump presidency – it is that nobody does, seemingly not even him.
Time and time again, Donald Trump has proven himself an unreliable ally, a fairweather friend. His political style does not exactly inspire confidence that this deal will stick, and won’t be rug-pulled from beneath our feet at a whim, exposing us to more instability.
That is a situation that London simply cannot afford to be in. Our city is intertwined with the U.S. in a manner far more profound than just economic. Yes, our banks and world-leading digital services are intertwined with their American equivalents, and our small businesses export to the U.S. regularly. But it’s more than that.
Our Mayors often interface with their counterparts in the great American metropolises as equal partners. American movie stars line our red-carpets and their “Football” stars take the line of scrimmage in our (actual) football stadiums.
So to take a risk on dealing with such an unreliable partner, the Government really must prove it is worth it – and not just a temporary ceasefire from Trump’s economic friendly-fire. They must demonstrate that this deal actually reverses the impact of Trump’s tariffs on our key industries and delivers growth for Londoners.
The devil will be in the detail – so Londoners (and indeed, everyone in the U.K.) deserves the detail to be forthcoming. Thus far, it certainly has not been. It would be totally inappropriate for the Government to withhold information until the last possible minute, or worse, fail to bring it to Parliament for proper democratic scrutiny.
It’s only with proper scrutiny that we can uncover what the Government is willing to fight for in order to protect us all, and just what Trump might be trying to force us to trade away. Issues like huge tax breaks for American tech giants and weakening protections for children online, or the undercutting of British farmers with an influx of new, substandard products from the U.S., must be debated in the open – not decided behind closed doors.
Indeed, Londoners will want their MPs to have the chance to represent them on a deal that has such an enormous impact on our city. In particular, they will want to see a meaningful move on strengthening our science and technology partnership that boosts jobs in the capital. We can’t be sure that this portion of the deal will be robust without proper scrutiny.
I sincerely invite the Government to do the right thing on this, and bring it to Parliament. If the deal is what they claim it is, they ought to relish the chance to do so. Rather than worrying about setting a stymying precedent, they should see it as the chance to reassure the British people that our economic relationship with the rest of the world is still under our democratic control.
In doing so, it would help get to the heart of one of the deep concerns behind Brexit, and perhaps ironically, would help build good faith for when Britain inevitably has to remove the anchor around its ankle and do the sensible thing, negotiating to re-enter the European Single Market.
We can’t rely on the Trump trade deal. It’s time to rejoin the EU Single Market
