Brexit panic ‘not justified’, says former Trump trade adviser
The current levels of panic around Brexit are “not justified”, according to a former top trade adviser to the US President Donald Trump.
The former general counsel on trade, Stephen Vaughn, believes the UK has “enormous leverage” in any trade deal agreed with the US, he told the BBC.
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The UK can only agree its own trade deals once it has officially left the EU, and Vaughn says the Trump administration is “ready to go”.
He likened the potential deal with the UK to negotiations between the US and Canada.
“No one would say, ‘Canada has to join the US in a union or Canada will get steamrolled by the US’.
“You have an enormous amount of leverage, and we’ll see how you use it,” he said, although admitted it could take months or years for an agreement to be reached.
However, current US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, has done all the preparations needed, he added, and, as the President’s top adviser on international trade, his team will negotiate with foreign governments to create trade agreements.
Vaughn also played down concerns about the US pushing the expansion of its agricultural exports, with farming methods in the country falling short of EU regulations.
He said it is not “something people should be afraid of”, but accepted the US would like a deal that involved it.
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The trade expert was also actively involved in Trump administration’s trade war with China and said the key was to make sure the two sides understood each other.
“You really just want to make sure everybody is understanding the issues and what is at stake.”