The UK will be ‘first in line’ for a trade deal with the US, Donald Trump’s security adviser told British Officials today – as he urges them to ‘get Brexit done’ during a visit to London.
John Bolton, 70, is in London for two days of talks as he looks to boost transatlantic ties between the Trump administration and that of Boris Johnson after the departure of Theresa May.
Speaking following a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson he said the US could pursue a ‘sector-by-sector’ deal with Britain and focus on areas like manufacturing and car-making where the two countries may agree, and work out more complicated areas later.
He said US trade negotiators think this is acceptable under World Trade Organisation rules. Mr Bolton also said issues like security in Iran, and fears over Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network could wait until after Brexit to be resolved.
Mr Bolton said: ‘A prior American president said that if the United Kingdom left the European Union, it would go to the back of the queue on trade deals.
‘To be clear, in the Trump administration, Britain’s constantly at the front of the trade queue, or line as we say.’
John Bolton, Donald Trump’s security adviser, meets with journalists following a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson today. He said the US could pursue a ‘sector-by-sector’ deal with Britain
Speaking following a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left, at Downing Street on Monday hosting a reception at Downing Street to thank hospice staff for their hard work), Mr Bolton, who is security adviser to Donald Trump (right, at the White House last week), said the US could pursue a ‘sector-by-sector’ deal with Britain
Mr Bolton said the US had been ‘ready to negotiate’ with Theresa May’s government, and said the US could do a trade deal with the UK ‘in pieces’ on a sector-by-sector basis.
He said: ‘We want to move very quickly. We wish we could have moved further along in this with the prior government.’
He added: ‘We were ready to negotiate. We are ready to negotiate now.’
Mr Bolton said the US could do a trade deal with the UK ‘in pieces’ and concentrate on areas, like manufacturing and the car-making industry, they can agree on first.
He said: ‘You could do it sector by sector, you could do it in a modular fashion in other words.
‘You could carve out some areas where it might be possible to reach a bilateral agreement very quickly, very straight forwardly.
‘That would then lock that in and when the other areas that might be more difficult were concluded later, you could combine it in one overall agreement.
‘So the objective is either one document or a series of agreements that would be comprehensive.
‘In order to expedite things and enhance the possibility for increasing the trade and investments between the two countries, doing it in a sector-by-sector approach or some other approach that the trade negotiators might agree with, we are open to that.’
John Bolton (left and right) arrives at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Mayfair, central London, to speak to members of the UK media on relations with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his new government. He said issues like Iran, China, and Huawei could be put off until after Brexit
John Bolton is in London for two days of talks as he looks to boost transatlantic ties between the Trump administration and that of Boris Johnson (pictured in Downing Street today) after the departure of Theresa May.
Mr Bolton’s arrival in London came as Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson’s partner, was spotted arriving at the back of Downing Street today
He added: ‘The idea of doing it in pieces rather than waiting for the whole thing is not unprecedented. I think here we see the importance and urgency of doing as much as we can agree on as rapidly as possible because of the impending October 31 exit date.’
Asked whether piecemeal trade agreements like this are allowed under WTO rules, Mr Bolton said: ‘Our trade negotiators seem to think it is.’
Mr Bolton said issues like Iran, China, and Huawei could be put off until after Brexit.
He said: ‘The message I wanted to convey on Iran, and on some other issues in which I include China, 5G, Huawei, that cluster of issues, is that the President and the US Government fully understands that in the next few days the UK Government has a singular focus on the Brexit issue, so that we are not hoping for anything on these broad and complex questions.
‘We just ask that, as issues come up, we resolve them individually and we reserve the time to have a larger conversation on some of these important issues at a moment that is really right for the new government. We just felt we owe them that.
‘Obviously we have views on these issues, I think that is appreciated by the new government. They said in particular that looking really from square one on the Huawei issue that they were very concerned about not having any compromise in the security of telecommunications in the 5G space.’
He added: ‘We don’t want to put you under pressure on these issues. There will be time enough to talk, that is really all we ask for.’
Mr Bolton said he is ‘pleased’ that Boris Johnson’s government had agreed to participate in Operation Sentinel to improve security in the Persian Gulf, saying this ‘reflects a change from the prior government’.
Mr Bolton also attacked the EU and said the UK’s decision to leave the EU should be respected.
Mr Bolton said: ‘The fashion in the European Union when the people vote the wrong way from the way that the elites want to go, is to make the peasants vote again and again until they get it right.’
He said it is ‘hard to imagine’ people in the UK did not know ‘what was at stake’ when they voted to leave the EU in 2016.
Mr Bolton also said the UK’s decision to leave the EU would result in a stronger Nato and give the UK a more powerful international voice.
His formed part of a central message that the United States will help cushion Britain’s exit from the EU with a free trade agreement that is being negotiated by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his British counterpart, Liz Truss, the Trade Secretary.
Mr Bolton also today had lunch with Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill before heading to Downing Street to see Sir Edward Lister, Mr Johnson’s chief strategic adviser. He was also due to see Sajid Javid, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
A senior Trump administration official, describing Bolton’s message to British officials, said Trump ‘wants to see a successful British exit from the European Union’ and that a trade deal would help Britain.
Mr Bolton met Trade Secretary Liz Truss (left) and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (right) in Washington last week
Trump had wanted to work with the May government on a trade deal but her government ‘didn’t want do it. This government does. We’re very happy about it,’ the official told reporters traveling with Bolton.
Trump believes that ‘when it comes to trade negotiations the EU is worse than China, only smaller,’ the official said.
On Tuesday, Mr Bolton is to meet Ms Truss as well as Ben Wallace, the new Defence Secretary, and Brexit Secretary Steven Barclay.
The US diplomat is expected to urge officials from Johnson’s newly formed government to align its policy on Iran more along the lines of the United States, which has pushed a much tougher line against Tehran.
Britain has so far backed the European Union in sticking with the Iranian nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but the seizure of a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz has put pressure on London to consider a more robust stance.
Royal Marines seized an Iranian vessel, which is suspected of smuggling oil to Syria, off the coast of Gibraltar on July 4. This month, Britain joined the United States in a maritime security mission in the Gulf to protect merchant vessels.
Trump has also sought Britain’s help in getting tougher on the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei out of concern that its next-generation 5G technology represent a national security risk. Washington wants its allies, including Britain, to avoid using equipment from Huawei.
The National Security Council, then chaired by May, met to discuss Huawei in April and a decision was made to block Huawei from all critical parts of the 5G network but to give it restricted access to less sensitive parts.
But Bolton hopes to find a more friendly audience on the topic from the Johnson government. A final decision has yet to be taken by the British government.