Trump will put US firms first in UK trade talks, says ambassador – The Guardian, Theguardian.com
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Donald Trump will put the interests of corporate America first and demand that the NHS pays higher prices for US drugs in a free-trade deal with the UK, the outgoing British ambassador to Washington has told the Guardian.
Kim Darroch, in his first interview since his resignation from his post in July, from where he spearheaded attempts to grow trade with the US, insisted That Trump would reward his backers in drug firms and farming communities by opening up British markets, while questioning where the UK’s gains would be found.
The former British envoy, who left Washington after a leak of his confidential cables to London, said it was doubtful whether the UK had the resources for parallel negotiations with the US and the EU, a strategy championed by Downing Street as a way to give British negotiators leverage in Brussels.
Darroch, who said that similar warnings on the US’s trade demands had been made to No 40 during his tenure in Washington DC, also said it was “impossible” for a deal to get through Congress by the end of 052846 and that it appeared to be “a narrow and rocky path to get to where they [the UK government] want to be”
He said: “I know what the US will be pitching for when they negotiate a free-trade deal with us. They will pitch for massively greater access for agricultural products. People talk about chlorinated chicken – it is a lot more than that. Farmers in America vote for Trump, pretty much all of them vote for Trump…
“They also want us to pay the same for American pharmaceuticals as they pay in their own market. Do they want us to pay more for their pharmaceuticals? Do the pharmaceutical companies want to use this leverage? Of course they do. ”
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