Donald Trump would be more willing to reach a free trade agreement with the U.K. if it aligns itself with the U.S. rather than pursue closer ties with the European Union, a senior economic adviser to the President-elect has said.
Stephen Moore told BBC Radio 4 that the U.K. has to decide whether it should adopt a U.S.-style free market model or the EU’s socialist model.
Trump has been threatening to introduce blanket tariffs of up to 20% on imported goods and up to 60% for imports from China. He sees them as a way of protecting jobs and raising tax revenue, while growing the American economy, but it would also likely trigger a global trade war.
Speaking from Washington after visiting Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where his transition team is busy planning Moore said: “The U.K. really has to choose between the Europe economic model of more socialism and the U.S. model, which is more based on a free enterprise system.
“And I think the U.K. is kind of caught in the middle of these two forms of an economic model, and I believe that Britain would be better off moving towards more of the American model of economic freedom.
“And if that were the case, I think it would spur the Trump administration’s willingness to do the free trade agreement with the U.K., I think it would make sense for both Britain and the United States.”
Moore also said that he couldn’t say definitively if the Trump administration will be open to a U.S.-U.K. free trade deal because he believes it has yet to be determined.
“Some of the economists who Trump has selected to be part of his team are in favor of that, and some of them are not, so I think that will be an internal debate within the new White House,” he said.
Moore pointed out that “Trump has talked a lot about tariffs generally, especially against China and some of the European countries. So I think he’ll probably start with using tariffs as a negotiating tactic.”
Days earlier, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said Britain should rebuild relations with the EU because Brexit had weighted on the economy. As a public official, Bailey doesn’t take a position on Brexit per se, but he does point out the consequences.
“It underlines why we must be alert to and welcome opportunities to rebuild relations while respecting the decision of the British people,” Bailey said in his annual Mansion House speech in London.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves, speaking at the same event, said the U.K. needs to “reset” its relationship with the EU, and she’s also looking forward to working with the Trump administration to strengthen trade ties.