Trump thinks Brexit will boost US-UK trade, is he right?
President Trump is supporting British Prime Minister Boris’ Johnson’s effort to yank the U.K. from the European Union by the end of next month on the premise that it will boost trade relations between the pair of countries.
Trump has promised to strike a “very big” post-Brexit trade deal with Britain, indicating that its involvement in the European Union had been weighing it down.
Simon Lester, associate director of the Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, told FOX Business that there is in face “great potential” for a comprehensive trade deal between the two countries.
“If the Trump administration is interested in pursuing liberalization of U.S.-U.K. goods and services trade, the U.K. would also be eager,” Lester said.
The caveat, however, is that so far the Trump administration’s actions have communicated other intentions – for example it has imposed or threatened a number of tariffs, Lester noted.
Trump has called Johnson “a friend,” and noted that “he’s the right man for the job,” where Brexit is concerned. He also said once Britain exits the E.U., a trade agreement could be completed “pretty quickly.”
“Hopefully the special U.S.-U.K. relationship might lead the Trump administration to push for trade openness here,” he said.
Johnson wants to move forward with Brexit by the end of next month – even if there is no agreement on a process to do so in place.
On Wednesday, the House of Commons voted to stop Johnson from pulling the U.K. from the European Union before Oct. 31 without a deal.
Trump, however, voiced his support for the British prime minister in the Oval Office on Wednesday, saying Johnson “knows how to win.”