London (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A top economic aide to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has stated that Britain should align itself with the United States on trade rather than pursue closer relations with the European Union.
Britain should lean towards the United States rather than chase a closer connection with the ‘socialist’ European Union if it desires to secure a free trade deal, one of Donald Trump’s top advisers has cautioned. A senior economic adviser to Donald Trump Mr Stephen Moore told The Times that the UK “has to make a choice” between “EU socialism and US freedom”.
Is the UK shifting toward a European socialist model?
He stated: “I’ve always said that Britain has to decide — do you want to go towards the European socialist model or do you want to go towards the US free market? Lately, it seems like they are shifting more toward a European model and so if that’s the case I think we’d be less interested in having [a free trade deal] … I hope they would move towards freedom but that doesn’t seem to be the case given the budget that they just came out with in London.”
According to experts, Stephen Moore appears to be an endeavour to force the hand of Sir Keir Starmer in the latest sign that the connection with the incoming White House administration is going to be bitter.
Should the UK join the eu customs union for growth?
On the other hand, Economist and ex-MEP Molly Scott Cato, a senior vice chair of the European Movement UK, cautioned that Starmer should “not take the threat on the chin.”
She said: “Significant economic benefits will remain out of reach unless the government is willing to choose a better deal with Europe above Trump’s US and above other deals which risk undermining our standards, join at least the EU Customs Union and then build from there.”
“As an economist, I’m not at all surprised that making trade harder with our largest export market has hurt our economy. But we don’t have to just take this on the chin. There are actions we can take to address the trade barriers imposed by Brexit. Reaching a Veterinary Agreement to cut red tape and reduce border checks would be a practical first step.”
