Fun piece! I’d argue however that the much bigger issue on UK-US relations is the possibility of a hefty services trade deal between the two. There’s little reason why Trump should oppose this, and should it be big enough to provide a substantial boost then combined with the advantages of de-risking, it may make Chinese tariffs a good deal easier to swallow.
I think there would be a reasonable amount of interest on the UK side in, for example, a digital trade deal. Particularly if it means that the UK is excluded from other Trump trade measures. But on your point about the impact, I'm a bit more sceptical. Countries really struggle to do deep services deals (by which I mean ones that remove real regulatory restrictions and duplication) because, in practice, it usually means someone somewhere loses a bit of regulatory autonomy.
Fun piece! I’d argue however that the much bigger issue on UK-US relations is the possibility of a hefty services trade deal between the two. There’s little reason why Trump should oppose this, and should it be big enough to provide a substantial boost then combined with the advantages of de-risking, it may make Chinese tariffs a good deal easier to swallow.
I think there would be a reasonable amount of interest on the UK side in, for example, a digital trade deal. Particularly if it means that the UK is excluded from other Trump trade measures. But on your point about the impact, I'm a bit more sceptical. Countries really struggle to do deep services deals (by which I mean ones that remove real regulatory restrictions and duplication) because, in practice, it usually means someone somewhere loses a bit of regulatory autonomy.