The Prime Minister thought he had achieved a ‘slam dunk’ when he got President Obama to parrot a line from Number 10 designed to scare people into voting to remain in the EU.

But even removing the fact that from January next year it will be another president in office in the White House, the idea that the UK would be ‘at the back of the queue’ for trade is as likely as Cameron selling up his Notting Hill mansion and moving into a council house in Denby.

Let’s also not forget that the UK is the largest cumulative investor in the US with over US$520bn of investment and remains the country’s second largest annual investor at over US$42bn each and every year. For the US to cut trade links with the UK at a time when they have a very precarious recovery would be to deny themselves the US$2 trillion in assets held by US subsidiaries of UK firms (as of 2010), 1 million jobs and US$72bn in wages paid by UK firms to US citizens.

Trade is a tricky subject, and one which the Treasury tried to make more complicated with their farcical ‘death by equations’ dossier. So here’s an A, B, C of companies who will not want an outgoing President to get in the way of trade with their cousins across the pond.

A is for Apple

B is for Boeing

C is for Chrysler

D is for DuPont

E is for Ebay

F is for Ford

G is for Google

H is for Hewlitt-Packard

I is for IBM

J is for JP Morgan

K is for Kraft

L is for Lockheed Martin

M is for Microsoft

N is for Nike

O is for Oracle

P is for PepsiCo

Q is for Quaker Chemicals

R is for Ralph Lauren

S is for Sysco

T is for Time Warner

U is for United Technologies

V is for Visa

W is for Walt Disney

X is for Xerox

Y is for Yahoo!

Z is for Zeebo

In addition, because the UK is a net food importer we push up our own prices with the Common Agricultural Policy. Outside of the EU, UK food imports from the US would boost trade and save us billions on these subsidies which could instead be spent on measures to promote British industry and investment in the rural economy.

Furthermore, the EU sulphur directive means shipping companies have to spend money on equipment to allow their vessels to enter EU waters. Outside the EU, we could become a major hub for Europe as companies would find it better to use British ports – providing a much needed boost to our coastal communities.

What was that about the ‘back’ of the queue, Mr Obama? I think you mean ‘the front’.