Could ‘Waitrose protectionists’ block a UK-US trade deal?

Will the UK agree a trade deal with the US? Such an agreement has long been cited by Leave campaigners as a prize for Brexit Britain. When Donald Trump became President it was seen to increase the chances of such a deal being struck. While Barack Obama had suggested the UK would be at the ‘back of the queue’, Trump suggested a deal could be thrashed out quickly. However, the idea of it being agreed before the US election now seems unlikely. 

As the UK and US begin a second round of negotiations, America’s chief negotiator Robert Lighthizer has warned that a deal is unlikely to be approved before the US presidential election in November: ‘That would be very, very, very quick time. I think it’s unlikely that that happens’. Even if the terms were agreed, it would need to go through congress which on the pre-election timeline is difficult: ‘It is almost impossible unless the members [of Congress] decided they want to do something extraordinary, to have it actually come before the Congress before November.’

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone in government.