US trade deal is not the ‘be all and end all’

A deal with the United States is not the “be all and end all” of trade agreements, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday.

A trade deal with the United States was touted as the one of the biggest prizes of leaving the European Union during the 2016 referendum campaign but since Joe Biden’s election as US president, the prospect of a swift deal has all but disappeared as his administration conducts a wider review of trade policies.

“I don’t agree … that is the be all and end all of trade,” Truss said at an event on the sidelines of the governing Conservative Party’s annual conference, when asked about the prospects of a trade agreement with the United States.

“There are lots of fast growing parts of the world who want to do business with Britain and there is a full pipeline of trade deals we are negotiating.”

Former trade minister Truss said her message to the Americans on trade was “we want to see them out there”.

Truss, who was appointed last month and has already visited the United States and Mexico in her new role, said it was important Britain and its allies reached out to trade with developing countries.

“If we are not reaching out to them, who is? The answer is it is authoritarian regimes who don’t have their best interests at heart … what we don’t want is those countries being dragged into the orbit of authoritarian regimes,” she said.