“Everything with a trade deal is on the table…so NHS or anything else, a lot more than that”.
That was Donald Trump talking about a possible UK-US trade deal after Britain leaves the EU’s common trade policy. Cue political drama, headlines and Conservative leadership contenders trying to work out what to say when someone asks them if they would be willing to include NHS procurement in any future trade talks. (Not for the first time, Matt Hancock was first off the blocks, tweeting to rule it out.)
There will doubtless be a great deal of good analysis of what this comment means for the Tory leadership race: does it harm Boris Johnson, whom Trump has previously endorsed?
I have nothing to say on that. I’m more interested in the wider and possibly more important point, which is about Britain’s public conversation about trade. And here, I think Donald Trump has just done Britain a favour.
Trade has become central to the Brexit story, yet is understood very poorly.
Far too much of our trade debate talks about largely irrelevant things like personal relationships between leaders, and ignores fundamental issues of national economic interest.
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