Liz Truss has told reporters accompanying her on the plane to her first overseas visit as Prime Minister that she did not expect talks on a trade deal with the United States to start “in the short to medium term”.
Truss who is on the way to the UN General Assembly in New York will meet U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday
She is said to be keen to reset the so-called special relationship between Britain and the United States during her visit, but ties have been tested, particularly over Brexit and the British leader’s decision to introduce legislation to unilaterally change an agreement on post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland.
One of Liz Truss’ first acts as trade secretary was to say that a US trade deal was her ‘main priority,Britain had viewed a trade deal with the United States as one of the biggest prizes of leaving the European Union but hopes of a quick agreement were dashed when the Biden administration made clear it was not a priority.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow international trade secretary, says Truss’s admission that the US free trade deal won’t happen is “terrible news” for the economy. He says:
The admission that there is no prospect of a trade deal with the USA is terrible news for the UK economy – it is costing billions in lost potential trade opportunities and holding back growth.
There is no doubt that the blame for this mess lies at the door of the prime minister, who tarnished the UK’s international reputation as foreign and international trade secretary. This is an embarrassment for Liz Truss.
The Conservative manifesto promised a trade deal with the United States by the end of this year, now this has no chance of being delivered.
Layla Moran, the Lib Dems foreign affairs spokesperson, said:
This is the latest broken promise on trade from Liz Truss and the Conservatives. Businesses up and down the country are tangled in red tape, farmers have been sold down the river, and now it turns out that a deal with one of our largest partners is not even on the table.
Liz Truss’s cack-handed diplomacy over the Northern Ireland protocol has become a major roadblock to getting this vital trade deal even started.
Any competent political party would have made sure the trade and then foreign secretary responsible for this series of failures would be held responsible. Instead, the Conservatives have made her prime minister.
