Trump Announces a UK Trade ‘Deal’ About Nothing
The White House made no mention of how the framework met the objectives of raising revenue or reshoring manufacturing.
Deal or no deal?
Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Watching President Donald Trump reveal in the Oval Office what he described as “a tremendous trade deal” with the UK reminded me of the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, the show that was literally about nothing.
To be clear, it’s not a deal but rather a framework for an agreement. In other words, US and UK negotiators still have a lot of work to do in coming weeks (perhaps months or even years like these things usually take?) to hammer out the details. For now, the idea is to have the UK fast-track American goods through customs and reduce barriers on “billions of dollars” of agricultural, chemical, energy and industrial exports, including beef and ethanol.