British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wasted no time, after officially exiting the European Union last Friday, in courting a bilateral trade deal with America, decrying “hysterical” fears about U.S. food standards such as genetically-modified crops, The Guardian reported.
“I look at the Americans, they look pretty well nourished to me,” Johnson said, while speaking at Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. “And I don’t hear any of these critics of American food coming back from the United States and complaining … So let’s take some of the paranoia out of this argument.”
Johnson’s remarks came some 48 hours after he told the EU that he had no intention of honoring all EU trade rules and standards going forward, contrary to a “political declaration” to do just that, which he and EU officials agreed to last year. The two sides are to officially begin negotiations March 3 on what their post-Brexit relationship will look like.
A new U.S.-UK trade deal is a high priority for both Johnson and the Trump administration, long considered one of the potential prizes of Brexit. The UK is the seventh-largest U.S. trading partner overall. The U.S. currently has a surplus in agricultural trade with the UK, selling $2 billion worth of agricultural exports and importing just $824 million in 2018, according to the U.S. Trade Representative. As AgWeb reported recently, “The top categories for ag sales to the UK are wine and beer, tree nuts, prepared food, soybeans and live animals.”
But there are plenty of obstacles to such a deal — including the uncertainty created by the unresolved issues between the UK and the EU. There also is ill-will between the two countries resulting from disagreements over the Iran nuclear deal and Britain’s decision to use equipment provided by China’s Huawei Technologies Co. in its new 5G telecommunications network, despite strong opposition by the U.S., which says Huawei abets Chinese espionage.
In agricultural trade, there also is concern in Britain that it will have to accept U.S. standards on things like chlorine-washed chicken—U.S. allows it, Britain does not—and GMO crops, which are not grown in the UK.
Johnson’s GMO remarks came even as the FT reported on Sunday that, “British officials have insisted that politically sensitive issues are off the table for any trade deal. These include loosening agricultural import standards to let US farmers sell more goods to Britain, from chlorine-washed chicken to genetically modified crops. London has also denied that they would allow provisions giving US pharmaceutical and healthcare companies greater access to the British market.”