President-elect Donald Trump will want to do a good deal with the UK, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones has insisted.
Jones, the chancellor’s second-in-command, said he was confident UK-US trading relationships could be deepened and that Peter Mandelson will be “brilliant” as the new UK ambassador to the US.
However, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has claimed Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer is in a “weak” negotiating position due to his wish to strengthen ties with the EU at the same time as with the US.
The PM has insisted he can walk a tightrope and balance strong trading and security relationships on both sides, despite Trump’s dislike of the EU.
But some nervousness seems apparent, with Lord Mandelson, launching a charm offensive ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday, lauding his “straight talking and deal-making instincts” and talking up a new “Atlantic alliance”.
Jones said the government was optimistic about the chances of a good relationship with the incoming administration, highlighting “opportunities for us to seize” around a potential post-Brexit trade deal, which he suggested could include technology.
“Donald Trump is well-known for wanting to do a good deal – I think there are plenty of good deals for us to do together,” he said.
“There are definitely opportunities to deepen our trading relationships, not least in technology, science and research… and I think that’s something that could be a positive outcome.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the Treasury minister suggested the UK could dodge Trump’s pledge for a 20% tax on all imports into the US due to not being in a “trade deficit”, adding ministers have “prepared for all scenarios”.
Jones also expressed confidence Lord Mandelson will “form a very strong partnership with the new administration”, despite some reports that the incoming president may reject him – and a top Trump adviser dismissing him as an “absolute moron”.
The appointment of Lord Mandelson, who is best-known as a New Labour spin doctor and minister under Tony Blair, is the first time in 50 years that a PM has selected a politician rather than a diplomat for the role, which Jones said was “because we want to do things differently”.
Asked about the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, warning of “resurgent fascism” ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Jones strongly disagreed, insisting the UK government respected Trump’s democratic mandate, adding: “I speak on behalf of the government and we don’t agree with it”.
A much less rosy view of the “special relationship” was painted by Farage, a long-time supporter of Trump, whose offer of acting as a go-between in negotiations with the president-elect has so far been rejected by the government.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour, the Reform UK leader said the government needs to “think outside the box” when dealing with the Trump administration, and that all evidence – including Lord Mandelson’s appointment – suggests they are not doing that.
“I think what this government does, is what all governments do – they stick with the established, status quo methods of appointing people,” he said.
Farage said he feared the UK would squander “an amazing opportunity” to get away from tariffs and negotiate free trade deals due to the prime minister’s refusal to choose the US over the EU.
“This guy [Trump] does business differently to anybody else we’ve seen in global politics before,” he said. “They don’t think they need me – but they might find in short order that maybe they do.
“If we have a deteriorating relationship with America that does hurt us financially, it’ll be the Labour government’s fault,” adding that Trump is “probably more Eurosceptic” than he is.
‘Blind faith’
The fact the UK still does not have a free trade deal with the US, despite this being a priority in Boris Johnson’s Conservative manifesto in 2019, has been criticised by the party’s current leader Kemi Badenoch, who said leaving the EU without a growth plan was “a mistake”.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel, a prominent voice in the Vote Leave Brexit campaign, was questioned about Badenoch’s comments by Kuenssberg after she urged swift action to agree a UK-US trade deal.
Patel, who was Johnson’s home secretary, said there had been plans to legislate around starting the Brexit process – but she acknowledged a lack of plans for what to do afterwards to rebuild economic relationships.
She said: “In terms of long-term sustainable proposals Kemi’s right to recognise that clearly wider plans needed to be put in place.”
Responding to Patel, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller claimed the Conservatives were now competing with Reform UK to be “the most submissive with Trump” – but the UK should not put “blind faith” in the new administration.
He said: “[Priti Patel’s] desire to rush into a free trade deal between the UK and US – one that could sell British farmers and food standards down the river – reminds us of where her and her party’s true alliances lie: with the Mar-a-Lago clan, not with constituents here in Britain.”
