A trade deal with Trump: Why we need to reject the Big Tech wishlist

Date: 2 April 2025
Campaigns: Trade

The UK is trying (again) to get a trade deal with the US

Days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Keir Starmer told news site Politico that he wanted to start negotiations on a trade deal with the United States as soon as possible. When the two men met a month later, Trump agreed, saying he wanted a “great trade deal” and that he thought it was possible “very quickly.”

The UK has twice tried to agree a trade deal with the US – first the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP, and then the post-Brexit US-UK trade deal. Talks failed both times after the public realised that the deals would pose a threat to food standards, farmer’s livelihoods, public services like the NHS, and more besides.

This time, British ambassador Peter Mandelson has called for a ‘Make our Economies Great Again’ agreement which would focus more on “clicks and portals than goods and mortar,” suggesting the deal could be focused on digital technology.

But there is no evidence that Britain will be able to limit a deal in this way – and plenty to suggest that our public services and food standards could indeed be ‘on the table.’

And even a digital-only trade deal carries its own serious threats for UK citizens, workers, public services, democracy and the environment.