Friday, July 13, 2018
Trump's visit highlights Britain's post-Brexit isolation
I don't suppose it matters how prepared we were for the disruptive, whirlwind that currently passes for the President of the United States, most of us are still shell-shocked at the diplomatic loose cannon that landed on our shores yesterday, who then proceeded to undermine and insult his hosts, whilst at the same time sticking his big nose into our internal affairs.
Just for the record, I thought it was unwise of President Obama two years ago to try to influence the result of the Brexit referendum and a major miscalculation on the part of Cameron to encourage him to do so. In a way Obama has paved the way for this brash monster and his interfering ways.
As the Guardian reports, having laid down the law at a NATO meeting, Trump swept into the UK, hailing Boris Johnson as a future prime minister, accusing the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, of doing “a bad job” on terrorism, telling us that there had been too much immigration in Europe and undermining his host, Theresa May's White Paper on Brexit on the day it was published.
The Independent tells us that Trump warned that Theresa May's Brexit plan would "kill" chances of any US-UK trade deal as any attempt to keep close ties with the European Union would make a future trade deal with the US unlikely.
If anything this tirade illustrates just how weak and isolated the UK has become on the World stage as a result of Brexit. Whilst we are in the European Union, we are part of a powerful trade bloc that can resist Trump's tariffs, insist on high food standards, which prevent the importation of US chlorine-washed chicken amongst other monstrosities, and protect our public services against predatory US corporations.
Outside the EU we are on our knees to Donald Trump begging scraps from the table. He dictates the terms of trade and we have to go along with it. We cease to be an equal partner in a free trade partnership and become instead a vassal-state of the USA.
Donald Trump's visit has an important lesson for all of us. If we want to remain a free and independent country in control of our own destiny then we need to stay in the EU. Anything less will put us in hock to this bully and the people behind him.
Just for the record, I thought it was unwise of President Obama two years ago to try to influence the result of the Brexit referendum and a major miscalculation on the part of Cameron to encourage him to do so. In a way Obama has paved the way for this brash monster and his interfering ways.
As the Guardian reports, having laid down the law at a NATO meeting, Trump swept into the UK, hailing Boris Johnson as a future prime minister, accusing the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, of doing “a bad job” on terrorism, telling us that there had been too much immigration in Europe and undermining his host, Theresa May's White Paper on Brexit on the day it was published.
The Independent tells us that Trump warned that Theresa May's Brexit plan would "kill" chances of any US-UK trade deal as any attempt to keep close ties with the European Union would make a future trade deal with the US unlikely.
If anything this tirade illustrates just how weak and isolated the UK has become on the World stage as a result of Brexit. Whilst we are in the European Union, we are part of a powerful trade bloc that can resist Trump's tariffs, insist on high food standards, which prevent the importation of US chlorine-washed chicken amongst other monstrosities, and protect our public services against predatory US corporations.
Outside the EU we are on our knees to Donald Trump begging scraps from the table. He dictates the terms of trade and we have to go along with it. We cease to be an equal partner in a free trade partnership and become instead a vassal-state of the USA.
Donald Trump's visit has an important lesson for all of us. If we want to remain a free and independent country in control of our own destiny then we need to stay in the EU. Anything less will put us in hock to this bully and the people behind him.
