President Donald J. Trump and the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson at the United Nations General Assembly (Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen)
After Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Tory Party won a landslide victory in the U.K.’s recent parliamentary election, President Trump tweeted congratulations to PM Johnson, and teased a deal that could be great for both countries.
Congratulations to Boris Johnson on his great WIN! Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT. This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the E.U. Celebrate Boris!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2019
A free trade deal between the world’s largest (U.S.: GDP $21.21T) and seventh-largest (U.K. $3.02T) economies would be great for both. America and the U.K. are already close allies in nearly every endeavor, a free trade deal between the two makes sense.
The Wall Street Journal reports on the prospect of the deal:
This is already an important trading relationship. The nations exchanged $261.9 billion in goods and services last year, with the U.S. running an $18.9 billion surplus. The U.S. is Britain’s largest trading partner. Although trade with America won’t entirely replace commerce that Britain might lose with the EU, a high-quality U.S. deal would be transformative.
An agreement would signal that post-Brexit Britain is open for business. And since the countries share economic and legal traditions, they have an opportunity to create a new template to address thorny issues like regulatory barriers to trade. This could inform other negotiations around the world. That’s why both sides should fight for a comprehensive trade agreement, even if serious sticking points mean it will take more time to negotiate.
Read more here.
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