US to stress UK to import high-quality American meat in Trump commerce deal

America is anticipated to push Britain to permit tariff-free entry to high-quality American meat as a part of any commerce deal signed beneath the incoming Trump administration, amid curiosity from the president-elect’s commerce chief.

Earlier makes an attempt to forge an settlement with the US have failed. Calls for to permit the import of chlorinated rooster and hormone-fed beef – produced within the US however unlawful within the UK – have proved too unpalatable for British ministers.

Nonetheless, main commerce and trade figures within the US now say that stumbling block might be eliminated by solely permitting meat produced to current UK requirements to enter the nation with out tariffs. They are saying the marketplace for such meat has flourished within the US for the reason that challenge of a post-Brexit commerce deal was first raised.

British ministers have solely dominated out any future deal that will undermine British meals requirements. Michael Froman, the US commerce consultant beneath Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, mentioned the incoming administration was seemingly to focus on China and tariffs. Nonetheless, by way of a UK deal, he mentioned “a lot has modified for the reason that outdated days of battles over chlorinated rooster and hormone-fed beef”.

“The US now has sizeable markets for hormone and chemical-free poultry and beef, and it’s not less than attainable there might be a compromise on sure longstanding points,” he mentioned. “If the UK is critical about negotiating an FTA with the US, although, it ought to be sure it has the political help to make laborious selections on market entry, guidelines and requirements.”

Any transfer to widen free entry to US meat dangers upsetting British farmers, who already face stiff competitors and lots of of whom have been angered by the federal government’s inheritance tax will increase on agricultural land. Farmers already complain in regards to the commerce offers signed beneath Boris Johnson that allowed for better beef and lamb imports from Australia and New Zealand.

However US producers stay eager on the thought of a deal for sure merchandise. “US agriculture has been adamant that we want extra proactive initiatives on commerce and definitely the UK is among the large economies, large markets, large shopper bases on the market the place we’ve extraordinarily restricted entry,” mentioned Erin Borror, a vice-president of the US Meat Export Federation. “From our perspective, it’s actually simply fully upside potential. Our producers, our exporters are all about supplying what the buyer and the shopper needs. Simply let the market work.”

The incoming US commerce consultant, Jamieson Greer, name-checked the UK as a attainable companion for a future free commerce deal final yr. “I like to recommend that the USA search market entry in non-Chinese language markets in incremental, sectoral and bilateral agreements with different nations,” he mentioned. “Specializing in buying and selling companions reminiscent of the UK, Kenya, the Philippines and India can be an excellent begin.”

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has signalled that she is going to search to take care of as a lot free commerce as attainable with the US after the arrival of Trump. She can also be beneath stress to ship promised financial development. British farmers have already tried to warn the federal government. Tom Bradshaw, the president of the Nationwide Farmers’ Union, instructed the Observer that he was “carefully monitoring the political adjustments within the US”.

“Restarting commerce talks merely to keep away from president-elect Trump’s potential tariffs doesn’t strike me as the precise basis for a balanced commerce settlement,” he mentioned. “If negotiations do proceed, it’s critical that any settlement upholds the excessive requirements we set within the UK, making certain that merchandise which might be unlawful to provide right here don’t achieve entry to our market.”

Jonathan Reynolds, the commerce secretary, mentioned lately that previous talks over the likes of chlorinated rooster had been tough due to “the very completely different regulatory regimes for agriculture and meals that exist within the UK and the EU in relation to the US”.

“However are there issues we could be speaking about? Whether or not you characterise that as an FTA or just a negotiation between two allies and associates, there are undoubtedly issues we may work collectively on and I might welcome that dialog.”