Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – European Union sources have warned that the UK must decide between a deal with Europe to decrease border checks on goods or a free-trade deal with the US, the Telegraph reported.
“The UK Government will have to make up its mind” an EU diplomat in Brussels told The Telegraph.
Do they prefer to get American chlorine chicken in Britain or to send Stilton cheese to Europe?”
they stated.
Donald Trump stated that the UK and US could “very soon” achieve a “great” and “real” trade deal after he met with Sir Keir Starmer in the White House. He indicated it would spare the UK the punitive US tariffs he has threatened the rest of Europe with since returning to office.
Sir Keir Starmer wants to lock a veterinary deal with the EU, removing trade barricades on animal and plant products between the UK the EU and Northern Ireland. However, diplomatic sources in the EU cautioned that the deal would make a fully fledged trade deal with the US impossible.
How does an EU SPS deal affect UK-US trade?
Senior sources make explicit the cost of that “SPS” deal on food safety, part of Sir Keir’s post-Brexit reset, was the UK deciding to align with EU regulations. Those measures make it almost unthinkable to import US agricultural products such as beef, a long-standing source of frustration in the US.
According to experts, the UK Government has a manifesto pledge to an SPS deal with the European Union that nearly certainly rules out a full US trade agreement. A full trade agreement would have little value set against likely debate, so the Government expects that smaller deals can be exempted from tariffs while also seeking deeper trade ties with the EU.
Rather than the fully fledged free-trade deal called for by Brexiteers since the UK left the EU, UK officials are comprehended to favour a suite of more diminutive, sector-specific deals in fields like AI.
