UK considers joining existing US-Mexico-Canada trade deal as hopes of standalone US agreement fade
Ministers are considering efforts to join an existing free trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada – or to strike a series of mini-deals with America – after Boris Johnson appeared to admit a standalone UK-US free trade deal was not an imminent prospect.
On his visit to New York and Washington DC this week, the prime minister has failed to commit to securing a free trade agreement between Britain and America by the time of the next general election in 2024.
He has also acknowledged that US President Joe Biden has “a lot of fish to fry” as he played down the chances of an agreement being struck soon between the two countries.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Biden reveals concern over NI Protocol
A senior government figure has suggested that an alternative route to boosting trans-Atlantic trade could be the UK joining the existing free trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, known as USMCA.
Another option could be pursuing a series of smaller UK-US deals on separate issues, they added.
“There are different ways to do this, the ball in their court and it takes two to tango,” the source said.
Asked about the prospects of a US-UK trade deal, as he sat next to Mr Johnson ahead of a White House meeting on Tuesday night, Mr Biden said: “We’re going to talk a little bit about trade today and we’re going to have to work that through.”
And he did not reject the past suggestion, made by former US president Barack Obama, that the UK would be “back of the queue” for a post-Brexit trade agreement.
Mr Biden also issued a warning that post-Brexit arrangements between the UK and EU must not end in a “closed border” on the island of Ireland.
“On the (Northern Ireland) protocols I feel very strongly on those. We spent an enormous amount of time and effort, the United States, it was a major bipartisan effort made,” he added.
“And I would not at all like to see, nor I might add would many of my Republican colleagues like to see, a change in the Irish accords, the end result having a closed border in Ireland.”
The USMCA agreement came into effect in July last year and replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which former president Donald Trump had vowed to replace on taking office.
New Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is said to have raised the status of stalled UK-US trade negotiations during her meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York on Monday.
Back in 2017, when Mr Trump was US president, Mr Johnson had said the UK would be “first in line” for a post-Brexit trade agreement with America.
But the prime minister has now appeared to publicly acknowledge that Mr Biden’s administration is less keen on a deal being struck quickly.
“On the FTA [free trade agreement], the reality is that Joe has a lot of fish to fry,” Mr Johnson told reporters travelling with him to New York.
“He’s got a huge infrastructure package, he’s got a build back better package. We want to do it, but what we want is a good FTA, a great FTA.”
Subscribe to the All Out Politics podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
Asked in an interview with Sky News on Tuesday whether he would get a UK-US free trade deal by the time of the next general election, Mr Johnson said: “We will keep going with free trade deals around the world, including in the United States.
“I have plenty of reason to be optimistic about that. But the Americans do negotiate very hard.”
Since leaving the EU, the UK government has struck agreements to rollover those trade deals it previously enjoyed with Mexico and Canada as part of its membership of the bloc.
Ministers also announced their intention to begin talks on upgraded trade deals with the two countries this year, in order for the agreements to be “better tailored to the UK economy”.
The EU does not have a free trade agreement with the US after talks on a proposed agreement were halted under Mr Trump, before later being abandoned.
As part of the post-Brexit ability to pursue an independent trade policy, the UK government is also bidding to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – a free trade agreement between Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan.
Politics
University tuition fee rise branded ‘morally wrong’ – as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson defends increase
The education secretary has said no decision has been made on whether university tuition fees will increase with inflation each year.
Bridget Phillipson has announced the maximum cap on tuition fees in England will go up in line with inflation from April 2025.
The cost of tuition will increase by £285 to £9,535 next year – the first rise in eight years.
Politics latest: Big name comeback in new Tory shadow cabinet
There will also be a rise in maximum maintenance loans to increase in line with inflation, giving an increase of £414 a year to help students with living costs.
However, the education secretary did not say if the rise would continue after that.
Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, Ms Phillipson admitted she did not know what would happen with tuition fees after April 2026.
“We’re going to look at this and the maintenance support and the sector overall as part of the reform that we intend to set out in the months to come,” she said.
“So no decision, no decision has been taken on what happens beyond this.”
She said the government will be looking at “what is required… to get our universities on a more sustainable footing… but also to deliver a better deal for students as a part of that”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
University tuition fees to increase
The minister said she also “intends to look at” uprating the threshold at which students need to start paying tuition fees back in line with inflation.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said the tuition fee rise was “economically and morally wrong”.
She said: “Taking more money from debt-ridden students and handing it to overpaid underperforming vice-chancellors is ill conceived and won’t come close to addressing the sector’s core issues.”
Read more:
Who’s who in Badenoch’s new shadow cabinet?
Migrants stuck on Chagos Islands may have chance to be moved to UK
More funding to tackle ‘national security threat’ of people smugglers
The National Union of Students (NUS) said students were being asked to “foot the bill” to keep the lights and heating on in their universities and to prevent their courses from closing down amid the “crisis”.
Alex Stanley, vice president for higher education of the NUS, said: “This is, and can only ever be, a sticking plaster.
“Universities cannot continue to be funded by an ever-increasing burden of debt on students.”
Universities have been making up for fees being frozen since 2017/18 by taking in international students who pay more.
However, student visa numbers have fallen after the previous government made it more difficult for them to come to the UK recently, so universities can no longer rely on the fees.
The US presidential race could determine the fate of more than half a dozen proposed crypto ETFs.
Dame Priti Patel has made a comeback as Kemi Badenoch has appointed her shadow foreign secretary, Sky News understands.
Ms Badenoch, who became Conservative leader on Saturday, started officially appointing her shadow cabinet on Sunday evening.
Politics latest: Reaction as Badenoch makes more shadow cabinet appointments
On Monday afternoon, the two biggest jobs were confirmed, with former home secretary Ms Patel being given the shadow foreign secretary role.
Former shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, who ran in the Tory leadership race and is considered more of a moderate than Ms Badenoch, has been made shadow chancellor.
Robert Jenrick, who lost out to Ms Badenoch, is the new shadow justice secretary, sources told Sky News.
Earlier in the day, Laura Trott, who served as chief secretary to the Treasury under Rishi Sunak, was appointed shadow education secretary.
The new Tory leader made her first appointments on Sunday evening ahead of her new top team meeting for the first time on Tuesday.
Mel Stride was work and pensions secretary and stood to be Tory leader
Now the Conservatives are in opposition, the shadow cabinet’s role is to scrutinise the policies and actions of the government and to offer alternative policies.
Nigel Huddleston and Dominic Johnson, junior ministers under Mr Sunak, were appointed joint chairmen of the Conservative Party.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The role involves overseeing the party’s headquarters, where staff and committee members have their offices.
Essex MP Dame Rebecca Harris was confirmed as chief whip after the interim chief whip Stuart Andrew said she was replacing him.
She will be responsible for ensuring Tory MPs attend and vote in parliament as the party leadership desires.
Read more:
Who’s who in Kemi Badenoch’s new shadow cabinet
University tuition fees to increase in England for first time in eight years
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Badenoch: ‘We let standards slip’
Former foreign secretary James Cleverly, who came third in the leadership race, said on Friday he would not be joining Ms Badenoch’s top team.
Ex-prime minister Mr Sunak, his former deputy Sir Oliver Dowden, ex-chancellor Jeremy Hunt and former Brexit, health, and environment secretary Steve Barclay have all said they will be joining him on the backbenches.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway