DEBATE: After Donald Trump’s warm words, should the UK put a trade deal with the US top of the priority list?

After Trump’s warm words, should the UK put a trade deal with the US top of the priority list?

David Campbell Bannerman MEP, board member of Leave Means Leave, says YES.

The US is still the largest economy in the world. President Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut will also be like adding rocket fuel to their consumer economy.

The UK has a trade surplus with the US, in sharp contrast to a massive trade deficit with the EU. There are many areas where we can benefit further. Sales of Jaguar Land Rovers, Minis and other vehicles should gain from losing 10 per cent tariffs, while agricultural tariffs will also drop. More whisky and drinks sales. For UK consumers it means cheaper jeans, jeeps, and jerky.

Services should benefit from better access to contracts at US federal and state level. These were one of greatest carrots offered under the EU’s equivalent but failed deal, TTIP.

As for the claimed horrors (such as enforced chlorinated chicken), don’t believe it. We can keep current EU standards for the first phase of a deal, giving us time for scientists to properly evaluate whether harmful effects are real or imagined.

If we’re doing new global trade deals post-Brexit, let’s start at the top.

Read more: Trump says he’d be tougher than Theresa May in Brexit negotiations

Alison McGovern, Labour MP for Wirral South and former shadow city minister, says NO.

The debacle of Brexit will long outlast Donald Trump’s shambolic presidency, but even if his renewed relationship with our Prime Minister could result in a “good” deal for Britain, I’m not sure we’d want it.

Chlorinated chicken was just the tip of the iceberg: the US has different standards on everything from food to medicine. We don’t want their unhealthy, unknown additives, and we don’t want their overpriced pharmaceuticals. In terms of services, do we want the ethics and customer service of US airlines and banks?

The top priority should be a deal with those we trade with most regularly, whose practices we share, and whose resources we need. Our European partners have the same rules on hormones in meat, and on paid holiday at work. The Single Market provides barrier-free access to our biggest trading partners – and we helped make the rules. Some 54 per cent of UK exports in 2016 went to the EU.

If it’s about priorities, the numbers speak for themselves.

Read more: Davos: Donald Trump tells industry leaders “America is open for business”