Simon Nixon’s

Political
Economy

‘UK’s Trade Deals Show How the World is Evolving in Response to the Trump Shock’

It has been amusing to watch the Conservatives and their media cheerleaders tie themselves up in knots over how to respond to Labour’s success in concluding two trade deals with America and India in the space of a week.

When they were in government, the Tories would have given their eye teeth to have secured deals with the world’s first and fifth-largest economies. These were prized as the ultimate validation of their Brexit vision of ‘Global Britain’ – not least because deals with America and India had long eluded the European Union. Indeed, during the EU Referendum campaign, some leave campaigners talked of little else.

Yet, now it seems these deals were not so important after all.

Rather than celebrating them as Brexit wins, as some in her party urged, Kemi Badenoch chose to criticise both. The Conservative Leader accused Keir Starmer of making an unnecessary tax concession for Indian employees seconded to Britain that would create a two-tier tax system disadvantaging British workers – although the Indian Government insisted that Badenoch as Business Secretary had made the same offer herself. And she insisted that Britain had been “shafted” by the US, on the (not unreasonable) basis that, although Britain had cut its average tariffs on US imports, America had tripled theirs. “When Labour negotiates, Britain loses,” she said.

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