Will Brexit help the UK in trade negotiations with Trump?
Jon Craig
Chief political correspondent
@joncraig
Could Brexit help Sir Keir Starmer and the UK government in trade negotiations with President Trump, a self-described “tariff man”, and the United States? The suggestion, ironic given the prime minister’s hostility to Brexit and his promise of a “reset” with the EU, has been made by a Trump ally and confidant, albeit a prominent Democrat.
The claim comes from Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey, in an interview for Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News. Murphy says he has a good relationship with Trump, who has a palatial home he calls the Summer White House, a 500-acre estate and a golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, just 45 minutes from Trump Tower in New York. .
He says his “hunch” is that Trump has sympathy for the UK for having the courage to leave the EU, “that big bureaucratic bloc” and “that’s an ace the UK can play” in trade negotiations. Oh really? As Trevor helpfully pointed out, that could benefit the UK if the Prime Minister were Nigel Farage instead of Sir Keir.
However, Mr Farage, speaking at a Reform UK regional conference in Exeter, described Trump as a “pro-British American president” who would give the UK “potentially huge opportunities”. But there is a problem, according to the Reform UK leader. Trump’s favors will only come, he says, “if we can overcome the difficulties of the entire cabinet being rude to him.”
