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** The starting pistol has been fired on a toxic trade deal with Trump – but we can still stop it
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Hi John,
Yesterday Donald Trump claimed that he was signing a “full and comprehensive” new trade deal with Britain. But it soon became clear that this was no such thing - yet. As one campaigner put it “this is more of a press release than a trade deal.”
What the British and American administrations announced was a limited tariff agreement, with many details on trade still to be discussed and agreed. Those details are what worry us, because they’re the parts that are legally binding, and would normally make something a trade treaty – and they remain far from agreed.
In fact, what happened yesterday was the starting pistol being fired on real trade talks. This means it’s all to play for – and we need to ramp up our campaign to stop the UK signing a full toxic trade deal with Trump in the coming months.
Yesterday’s agreement means there will be limited exemptions from the tariffs Trump imposed earlier in the year, in particular on cars and steel. But the UK remains in a worse place than it was three months ago. In return, Britain offered increased market access for some agricultural products – though UK food standards remain the same, for now.
** Rewarding the bully
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The bigger price we’ve paid is rewarding Trump’s bullying behaviour. The US president has been desperate to secure any sort of positive news, as his tariffs damage his popularity. With no other countries coming forward to offer the concessions Trump is demanding, Britain broke ranks and gave Trump the victory he desired.
Giving a bully a victory like this is never a good idea. It proves to him that his threats have worked, and he will now only double down on his strategy. We could well see more tariffs imposed on medicines and films in coming weeks – forcing countries like the UK to offer further concessions.
As a strategy, this will do nothing to help us long-term. Even less will it help secure the sort of fairer international economy rules we so desperately need.
**
Big tech threat
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And there’s a more immediate threat. Repeatedly yesterday, British and US representatives stressed that this was just the beginning of a closer trade relationship. Our ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, repeated his desire to begin work on a deeper “technology partnership”.(1) Meanwhile Trump’s trade chief Peter Navarro said the US was still in talks to abolish the UK’s Big Tech tax, as well as telling reporters that Brits would find they loved the taste of chlorine-washed chicken.(2)
In other words, everything is still on the table – from food standards, to NHS data to the regulation of artificial intelligence. What's more, just as we saw with these talks, any negotiations will continue to be top secret, with neither MPs nor the public able to see what’s happening.(3)
**
Opposition is building
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But things are changing. In the last fortnight, two leaders of parliamentary committees have come out to demand a vote in Parliament on anything agreed with the United States.(4) In the next two weeks we will be holding a parliamentary meeting to launch our campaign against the US trade deal.
We now need to start getting the word out about what such a deal would mean to the wider public. Because we know that when people hear about the likely details of any trade deal, the majority oppose it.
The government has done more than enough to appease Donald Trump’s aggressive economic strategy. It’s time to stand up to Trump – and refuse to sign over our standards and protections to big business.
If you haven’t already, please sign the petition against a toxic trade deal with Trump:
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Thank you,
Nick Dearden
Director, Global Justice Now
Notes
1. Peter Navarro - Trump's Top Trade Adviser - Speaks To Reporters About US-UK Trade Deal ([link removed]) , Forbes, 8 May 2025
2. Trump and Starmer confirm ‘breakthrough’ US-UK trade deal ([link removed]) , Guardian, 9 May 2025
3. Clive Lewis: My party must give Parliament a say on any UK-US trade deal ([link removed]) , Politics Home, 6 May 2025
4. Labour select committee chairs call for parliament to vote on trade deal with US ([link removed]) , Guardian, 16 April 2025
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