Donald Trump’s new trade chief has previously called for deals with the UK, it has emerged, as the president elect’s team seeks to force Keir Starmer to choose between the US and the EU.
Last year, Jamieson Greer voiced support for trade agreements with Britain during evidence to Congress.
He has now been unveiled as Mr Trump’s pick for US trade representative just a week after a senior economic adviser to the next President warned the UK had to ditch the “socialist” EU and embrace the US - or face tariffs.
The intervention was seen as an attempt to force the hand of Sir Keir, who is currently trying ‘reset’ and improve post-Brexit relations with the EU.
Trump adviser Stephen 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].”
The choice of Mr Greer as trade representative will be seen as another sign of the Trump team’s keenness to push for possible trade deals with the UK.
Mr Greer told Congress last year: “I recommend that the United States seek market access in non-Chinese markets, in incremental, sectoral and bilateral agreements with other countries. Focusing on trading partners such as the United Kingdom, Kenya, the Philippines and India would be a good start.”
Announcing his choice, Mr Trump said that Mr Greer, a former Air Force lawyer turned trade litigator, would “focus the Office of the US Trade Representative on reining in the country’s massive trade deficit, defending American manufacturing, agriculture and services and opening up export markets everywhere”.
During the election campaign, Mr Trump unveiled plans to introduce 20 per cent tariffs on all imports to the US, with that figure rising to 60 per cent for Chinese imports.
Sir Keir’s government is reported to be ready to retaliate if Trump does threaten the UK – with US brands such as Levi’s and Jack Daniel’s “on the tariff hit list”.
Sir Keir hit back at Mr Trump’s tariff threats on Tuesday with an apparent warning that 1 million Americans working for British companies stand to be affected. In what was widely seen as a warning to Trump of the implications of any tariffs imposed on the UK, Downing Street said on Tuesday: “A million Americans work for UK-owned businesses and vice versa, and the fact that UK-US trade was worth £304bn in the last year, clearly that is something that we want to build on.”
Overnight the president-elect had indicated that he would place tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China as soon as he re-enters the White House in January, raising fears that the UK is next.
The Liberal Democrats have called on the prime minister to “Trump-proof” the economy ahead of the new president’s inauguration.
