Are rumours of US-UK mini-trade deals a sign of things to come?

Sean O’Grady explains why the removal of tariffs on certain goods is a step in the right direction – but the big picture remains grim

Tariffs on Scotch whisky will be removed if the US-UK mini-trade deal goes ahead (Getty/iStock)

International trade deals, it seems, may not take years to negotiate after all. The hopeful remarks by the United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, suggests that Brexit could mean that America cancels some of the punitive tariffs applied to British exports while Britain was in the EU and then governed by the transition agreement.  

These were brought in during one of the perennial spats between the EU and the US about state aid to their respective aerospace industries, and specifically to Airbus and Boeing, respectively. Both the Europeans and the Americans have been found “guilty” of such prohibited subsidies under World Trade Organisation rules. The US slapped tariffs on EU-sourced cheese, olives and Scotch whisky, while the EU retaliated by taxing imports of sugar, fitness machines and Boeing products. The aircraft dispute was only the latest in a long running low-intensity trade war between America and Europe over strategic industries such as aerospace and steel, and in which politically sensitive targets from swing constituencies or symbolic national targets such as French champagne and American Harley-Davidson motorbikes were the weapons of choice.