A senior economic adviser to Donald Trump has warned the UK that it needs to ditch the “socialist” EU and embrace a trade deal with the US instead, or face tariffs.
The intervention by Stephen Moore appears to be an attempt to force the hand of Sir Keir Starmer in the latest sign that the relationship with the incoming White House administration is going to be painful.
But the prime minister has been urged not to “take the threat on the chin” and to continue to pursue closer ties with the European Union, Britain’s largest export market.
Earlier this week, The Independent revealed that President-elect Trump plans to veto Sir Keir’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, in a move that could humiliate the prime minister, because of concerns over the joint UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia.
Now Mr Trump’s team is pushing the Labour government to ditch its biggest foreign policy objective – resetting the EU relationship – in favour of a trade deal with the US.
Mr Moore told The Times that the UK “has to make a choice” between “EU socialism and US freedom”.
He said: “I’ve always said that Britain has to decide – do you want to go towards the European socialist model or do you want to go towards the US free market? Lately it seems like they are shifting more [towards] a European model, and so if that’s the case, I think we’d be less interested in having [a free trade deal] … I hope they would move towards freedom, but that doesn’t seem to be the case given the Budget that they just came out with in London.”
But the pro-EU cross-party pressure group European Movement UK has described the Trump team tactics as “bullying”.
Economist and former MEP Molly Scott Cato, a senior vice-chair of the group, warned that Sir Keir should “not take the threat on the chin”.
She told The Independent: “Significant economic benefits will remain out of reach unless the government is willing to choose a better deal with Europe above Trump’s US, and above other deals that risk undermining our standards, join at least the EU customs union, and then build from there.
“As an economist, I’m not at all surprised that making trade harder with our largest export market has had a negative impact on our economy. But we don’t have to just take this on the chin. There are actions we can take to address the trade barriers imposed by Brexit. Reaching a veterinary agreement to cut red tape and reduce border checks would be a practical first step.”
The attempt to bully the government – which appears to be short of friends on the international stage, with the collapse of Olaf Scholz’s government in Germany – also comes as chancellor Rachel Reeves is desperately trying to find ways of achieving Labour’s aim of economic growth.
Mr Moore insisted that Mr Trump has “won a mandate” for his plans to impose economic tariffs and start an international trade war, but the incoming president is also keen on signing a trade deal with the UK.
The Trump adviser added: “I’ve always been in favour of a free trade agreement with the Brits, but for one reason or another it hasn’t happened.
“It would make sense to me … I think we do have a special relationship with the Brits, more than we do with the Germans and the French and the rest of Europe.”
However, there are serious concerns over what a US-UK trade deal would look like, with American food producers in particular having much lower standards and regulations in farming.
Kim Darroch, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, has warned that Mr Trump offered the UK a deal in 2017 but “it would have destroyed British farming”.
Ms Reeves, who is targeting a trade deal with the US, has made clear that the Labour government will not compromise on agricultural regulations or Britain’s relationship with the EU.
She told ITV News: “We are not going to allow British farmers to be undercut by different rules and regulations in other countries.”