President Donald Trump has signalled his approval of and involvement in trade talks between the United States and the United Kingdom, as the British trade delegation began their second day of a visit to Washington, D.C..
The President took to Twitter to promote the key talks, hailing the “major Trade Deal with the United Kingdom”, and saying it could be “very big & exciting”.
U.S. government sources have told Breitbart London they expect the deal to be “big” and “quick”, citing the need for strong, continued relations between the two nations.
President Trump also used the Tweet to take a swipe at the European Union which he said is “very protectionist” with the United States. The political bloc charges significant tariffs on imports from nations outside the union, and a mooted trade deal between Europe and the States that critics saw as being more advantageous to the EU than U.S. has been seen as dead in the water since Trump took the presidency.
A key plank of Trump’s campaign to become president has been focused on American jobs, and which his one-word remark in the Tweet — “JOBS!” — the President strongly implied the completion of a UK-US deal would see more employment for Americans workers.
The comments from the White House come as the first round of talks between the U.S. and UK took place.
British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox arrived in the United States with a team of negotiators Monday and is reported to have been setting up “working groups” to explore possibilities for future deals.
This week’s trade talks follow another visit by Fox in June, where the minister went to “lay the groundwork for a potential future UK-US free trade agreement” and to “secure “a deal like no other in history.”
The U.S.-UK discussions have not been hailed as full-blown trade talks in a sop to the European Union, from which the United Kingdom is presently working to remove itself from, as European laws prevent member states from entering into treaties of their own.
Despite this, unofficial trade talks have been carrying on, and advice from European law academics in the past weeks suggest that the European Union wouldn’t be able to prevent this progress if they so wished.
Breitbart London reported on the remarks of Professor David Collins of City University, who said: “The actual fact is, there’s nothing in the European Treaties that do ban the negotiation of free trade agreements.
“I can tell you what is legal, negotiating and signing a trade agreement, as long as it doesn’t go into force before the day Brexit goes into effect, March 2019. It is in theory legal, there’s nothing in the EU treaties that prohibit that, despite what people say.”