Ex-trade minister Liam Fox tells Boris Johnson post-Brexit Britain should do trade deals with individual STATES in America as a backstop to a full US deal in case of ‘unavoidable difficulties’ caused by chlorinated chicken
- The former international trade minister will make speech in Geneva, Switzerland
- He will urge service sector deals with California, Texas, Florida and New York
- They can be made at state level but goods deals have to be made federally
Britain should seek to do smaller-scale trade deals with individual American states in case a full US-UK agreement gets bogged down by rows over chlorinated chicken, Liam Fox will warn today.
The former international trade minister will use a speech in Geneva to suggest Boris Johnson looks to make service sector deals with the likes of California, Texas, Florida and New York.
He will say that they would all be members of the G20 if they were independent and are allowed to strike agreements on services at the state level.
In contrast, free trade deals on goods have to be done federally by the Trump administration, which means they are likely to face ‘unavoidable difficulties’.
He will tell an audience at the Spinoza think tank that ‘the US will, quite correctly, negotiate hard for its own interests’ and ‘is likely to focus on better access for its agricultural products’, according to the Telegraph.
The former international trade minister will use a speech in Geneva to suggest Boris Johnson looks to make service sector deals with the likes of California, Texas, Florida and New York
Boris Johnson faces a stiff battle with the US over agricultural products currently banned under EU laws
The UK and US continue to be at odds over the issue of chlorinated chicken and other agricultural products.
Earlier this month Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers said that the EU ban on meat treated this way – to remove parasites – would be continued after the UK leaves the bloc at the end of January.
In an interview to be broadcast this weekend on the BBC’s Countryfile programme, she said: ‘We will not be importing chlorinated-chicken. We will not be importing hormone-treated beef.
‘Both of those are illegal under EU law, which we are importing into our domestic system.
‘There are legal barriers to their import and those are going to stay in place.’
But the US is likely to drive a hard bargain when negotiations start in earnest after January 31 and any stand-off could harm other areas of trade.