UK’s Sunak won’t push Biden for trade deal during US visit

Rishi Sunak won’t push US President Joe Biden for a trade deal during a visit to Washington next week, the UK prime minister’s spokesman said.

The two leaders will discuss the global economy, supply chains and support for Ukraine during the June 7-8 visit, the spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters Tuesday. As well as Biden, Sunak will meet with congressional leaders and business figures, he said.

“We are not seeking to push a free trade agreement with the US currently,” Blain said when asked if the topic would be up for discussion. 

The concession reflects an acceptance by the UK’s Conservative government that the all-encompassing US trade deal which proponents of Brexit once hailed as one of the great prizes of Britain’s divorce from the European Union is now a distant prospect, after Biden made clear it’s not a priority of his administration.

Biden and Sunak will discuss “efforts to continue strengthening our economic relationship as we confront shared economic and national security challenges,” among other issues, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement announcing Sunak’s visit. 

The two leaders will meet at the White House a week from Thursday, Jean-Pierre said.

Blain said that the UK will instead continue to work on state-level agreements such as a recent deal signed with Oklahoma, as well as pursuing “targeted” measures “to remove the few barriers that remain.” He would not be drawn on what those targeted measures were.

Britain is seeking a trading arrangement with the US that amounts to a free trade agreement “in all but name,” people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last month. 

British officials had originally hoped to have discussions during Biden’s trip to Northern Ireland, but the US administration made it clear the president intended to use that visit to discuss the peace process and investment in the region. A wider discussion on economic issues would be possible in June, Amanda Sloat, the National Security Council’s senior director for Europe, told reporters in Belfast at the time.