Sunak Needs To Stand Up to Biden and Get On With Starting Trade Talks

COMMENTARY Europe

Sunak Needs To Stand Up to Biden and Get On With Starting Trade Talks

Apr 13, 2023 2 min read
COMMENTARY BY
Nile Gardiner, PhD

Director, Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow

Nile Gardiner is Director of The Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on April 12, 2023 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Paul Faith - WPA Pool / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

The European Commission exerted tremendous pressure and issued numerous threats to Britain to get this deal through. And so did the Biden Administration.

Rishi Sunak has largely complied with the demands of both Brussels and Washington. It is now time for him to start standing up for Britain.

He needs to stand up for Britain, Brexit and economic freedom. And that must include throwing down the gauntlet to Joe Biden on a trade deal with the U.K.

Downing Street has presented the Windsor Framework as a reset of Britain's relationship with the EU, and a new positive chapter in relations with our European neighbors. The deal does deliver some benefits for the people of Northern Ireland, including a reduction in customs burdens and some helpful amendments to the text of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

But in terms of the big picture it is a heavily flawed agreement which leaves the EU and European courts wielding tremendous power over the sovereignty of part of the United Kingdom.

The Windsor Framework works to the advantage of Brussels and the EU's French and German overlords. This is more Dunkirk than Agincourt.

The European Commission exerted tremendous pressure and issued numerous threats to Britain to get this deal through. And so did the Biden Administration.

>>> Biden’s Hypocrisy Has Gone Global

The United States played a key role in forcing Britain's hand, by threatening to sink a U.S./UK trade deal unless the British Government negotiated an agreement with the EU that was sanctioned by the White House.

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and President Biden, made it abundantly clear they would not abide by Britain unilaterally amending, tearing up or walking away from the hated Northern Ireland Protocol.

The Biden White House and its Democrat supporters in Congress are overwhelmingly anti-Brexit and pro-EU.

They have consistently sided with Brussels over the Northern Ireland issue, and have strongly spoken out against earlier British talk of taking a sledgehammer to the Protocol.

Such a move, seriously considered by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was ludicrously portrayed by the Biden team and its Congressional allies as undermining the Good Friday Agreement and peace in Northern Ireland.

The U.K. was told in no uncertain terms that a trade deal with the United States would be dead in the water if the British went down this path.

With the Windsor Framework Rishi Sunak has largely complied with the demands of both Brussels and Washington. It is now time for him to start standing up for Britain.

In marked contrast to former President Trump, Biden has been extremely lukewarm on the idea of a trade deal with the U.K.

He has dragged his feet and has used the excuse of the Northern Ireland issue to delay moving forward on a trade deal between the world's largest and sixth largest economies.

A U.S./U.K. trade agreement would be a force generator for economic freedom, job creation and greater prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. Sunak should make this a priority for his Government.

>>> Rishi Sunak Must Do a Maggie and Take On Militant Unions

He should demonstrate he is serious about delivering the full benefits of Brexit, and that must include a trade agreement with Washington.

Even if Biden spurns Britain's advances, the British should keep up the pressure and double the momentum in preparation for a possible Republican administration in 2025 following the 2024 presidential election.

There is every likelihood that a conservative U.S. President will move forward swiftly with negotiations for a trade deal with the U.K.

Many U.S. Members of Congress want to see a robust U.K. deal that creates additional jobs and prosperity for Americans.

It would be a huge mistake for the British Government to take its foot off the pedal with possibly just 21 months remaining of the Biden Presidency.

The last thing the Prime Minister surely wants is to be seen as a pushover on the world stage.

He needs to stand up for Britain, Brexit and economic freedom. And that must include throwing down the gauntlet to Joe Biden on a trade deal with the U.K.

This piece originally appeared in the Express