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Prime Minister Theresa May was probably expecting a more favorable position by welcoming Trump to Britain this week, as the populist leader openly expressed support for Brexit.
Instead, Trump scorched his policy toward the EU's divorce in an interview with Sun's newspaper that shocked Britain's political establishment.
May ignored his advice on the best way to deal with Brussels, he said, while praising his foreign minister. The colorful Boris Johnson has resigned rather than participate in the transformation of Britain into a "colony" after the government signed Brexit in May.
Johnson, one of the leading Brexit activists before the British referendum of June 2016, said the country could "have our cake and eat it" by maintaining close ties with the EU while continuing to enter into new trade agreements with the rest. of the world, including the United States.
The May plan, fleshed out in a government white paper this week, argued that it was possible thanks to an agreement with the EU that would prevent the return of a border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the UNITED KINGDOM.
Trump, however, torpedoed such thought in his interview.
He stated that May's plans to tightly bind the British economy to its European partners after the Brexit "would probably kill" its hopes of a US trade deal.
Hyperbole
The two leaders attempted to deflect Trump's inflammatory language during a press conference on Friday, insisting that they were determined to pursue a post-Brexit pact.
Mai pointed out that London could stay in terms of friendly trade with Brussels and Washington.
"This is not either," she said at the press conference.
The pace of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Washington supported much rhetoric by Brexite and kept May determined to move forward with Trump's visit despite the Opposition from thousands of protesters who denounced the trip.
That is why the government's white paper was "veiled by a strategic ambiguity over the merchandise trade," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Center for International Political Economy in Brussels. .
"The problem is that FTAs do not go that far," he added.
"There is a big misconception in the Brexit debate about what an FTA can do: a lot of arguments are hyperbole or even downright wrong."
The pound slipped 0.6% against the dollar on Trump's interview as Brexit's freedom rhetoric clashed with the reality of British economic relations.
"The United Kingdom can not afford to alienate either the United States or the EU, its two largest foreign trading partners, and will not be able to choose a solution" & # 39; 39 or so, commented Fiona Cincotta Index of London Cities
But even if Britain can evade the dense network of regulations and tariffs resulting from its decades of EU membership, a trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom would be easier said than done.
Trump has already started a trade war with the EU, China and others. There is nothing to suggest that the intransigent negotiator would go more easily to Britain, and he could insist on lower rates and easier access for US industry to the second. Europe's largest economy.
Chlorinated American chicken has already become totemic in future rows as activists oppose the prospect of Britain easing its food safety standards under any US agreement.
Advocates of the British National Health Service rallied against what they see as a US conspiracy to dismantle the NHS by opening it to competition from US health care providers and allowing higher prices for US drugs.
Backlash
Free trade agreements that threaten to undermine institutions like the NHS have provoked mbad protests elsewhere. A long-negotiated EU-Canada trade pact attaches to the political defeat in Europe. A separate agreement between the United States and the European Union is on the ice.
Then May faces an unpleasant choice. The United States is perhaps Britain's largest national trading partner, but the EU as a whole is much larger.
"At first glance, Trump's disruptive approach may seem logical from a narrow perspective" America first "In any bilateral negotiations with another country in the world, the United States would be the strongest part, "said Berenberg Economics. report.
But he adds: "Trump is perhaps his worst enemy: by facing many countries at the same time with behavior deemed unacceptable beyond his own fan base, Trump can bring others closer than divide them. . "
Indeed, British lawmakers on both sides have seized on Trump's words to warn May not to trust the unstable president too much as Britain prepares to leave the EU next March.
"If the signing of a #Trump deal is the price of an agreement, it's not worth it to pay," tweeted Sarah Woollaston, a May Conservative MP .
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