Will Prioritising A UK-US Free Trade Agreement Make Or Break Global Britain?

Additional authors

Nyasha Weinberg, Jessica Redmond, Simon Borumand
 

Abstract

Talks on a future Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) between the United Kingdom and United States began on May 5 2020. This paper, the fifth in a series looking at the impacts of Brexit on the UK economy and trade, examines whether talks might result in an FTA between the US and UK, and what the impact of such a deal could be. Based on interviews with senior government officials, trade and sector experts on both sides of the Atlantic – before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic - we explore the prospects of a deal and what shape that might take. We conclude that a full FTA with the US before the summer of 2020 is impossible given the impacts of Covid-19 and roadblocks and risks involved. A ‘mini-deal’, however, is a possibility. Yet such a ‘mini-deal’ poses an important strategic dilemma for the government: will it draw the UK into an emerging US foreign and economic policy based on anti-China bilateralism, closing the door on ‘Global Britain’; or can the UK use this opportunity to help encourage the US back into the global community?