Trump adviser: UK-US trade deal possible `overnight´ if open border…
Britain and the US can do a trade deal ‘overnight’ after Brexit if Boris Johnson offers to drop all tariffs, former adviser to Donald Trump says
- Former economic adviser to Trump says UK-US trade deal possible ‘overnight’
- Gary Cohn said Boris Johnson could just offer to drop all tariffs after Brexit
- US politicians have warned congress will block deal if Irish peace undermined
The UK could do a trade deal with the US ‘overnight’ after Brexit if Boris Johnson agrees to drop all tariffs, a former aide to Donald Trump claimed today.
Gary Cohn, who was the US President’s economic adviser from 2017 to 2018, also said No Deal Brexit would be an improvement on the ‘state’ the UK is in now.
The PM insists a Transatlantic trade agreement will be one of the big benefits of leaving the EU, which he has said must happen by the end of October.
Mr Trump has also voiced enthusiasm for a pact, saying it could boost trade between the countries by a multiple of five.
However, US politicians have warned that Congress is unlikely to sign off on any deal if Brexit has put the peace process in Ireland at risk.
Gary Cohn (pictured right with Donald Trump and Jared Kushner in 2017, was the US President’s economic adviser until last year
Mr Cohn said this morning that the most important thing for the UK now was to have certainty about the future.
‘Any forward progress at this point is good,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.
‘This is another one of those economic geopolitical situations that has to be solved. And if it’s hard, soft, it has to be solved.
‘And countries are more resilient than people think and, if you end up at the hard Brexit and say ‘we’re out, no-deal, we’ll be out on this day’ things will tend to happen, things will fall into place.
‘You’ll have to get certain things done to make sure it works and then it will evolve over time.
‘But it’s better than the state we’re in right now where every month or every six weeks there’s a new drama and we just kick the can down the road.’
Mr Cohn said the UK could have a trade deal with the US ‘overnight’ if it is willing to agree to an open border.
Mr Cohn said: ‘The President has always said free, fair, open, reciprocal. You’re calling him in on what he’s always said.
‘So, he’ll go tariff for tariff, if you tariff something, he’ll tariff something, if you don’t tariff anything, that would be an interesting discussion to say ‘hey, look, we’ll do a free, open border with you, you do a free open border with us, no tariff for no tariff. That should get you a deal overnight.’
Mr Cohn said: ‘You talk about the United States being stymied in capital investment.
‘The only place that makes the United States look like we’ve got a lot of capital investment is the UK because literally you have no capital investment going on right now.’
Boris Johnson (pictured at a police board meeting last night) insists a Transatlantic trade agreement will be one of the big benefits of leaving the EU, which he has said must happen by the end of Octobe
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