The United States is “fundamentally” an Anglo country and President Trump “really loves the United Kingdom”, Vice President JD Vance has said as he talked up a U.S.-UK trade deal to come.
A preferential trade deal between the United States and United Kingdom is “highly likely”, states the UnHerd publication, in their interview with Vice President JD Vance. There is a “good chance” of a “great agreement” of mutual benefit, he said.
The VP expressed the love of Trump for the United Kingdom in particular among European nations and said this was feeding into the trade and tariff process. The United Kingdom was place on the global minimum for Trump’s tariffs on Liberation Day, in part because of its reasonably balanced trade relationship, but likely in no small part too down to Trump himself.
Vance told the publication that Washington is “working very hard” on a trade deal with the British government, and: “The President really loves the United Kingdom. He loved the Queen. He admires and loves the King. It is a very important relationship. And he’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in [Britain].”
In remarks that appear to really auger well for the Anglo-American friendship, Vance continued: “But I think it’s much deeper than that. There’s a real cultural affinity. And of course, fundamentally America is an Anglo country.”
Significantly, both the President and the Vice President of the United States are happy to express their British heritage. President Trump often speaks of his Scottish mother Mary Anne, and Vice President Vance is descendant of the large number of Ulster-Scots who settled in Appalachia. The situation stands in sharp contrast to the previous Presidencies, for instance, which made political hay from anti-British sentiment.
These remarks come just as the United States appears to brief through the Wall Street Journal that the handful of nations targeted to be the first to get good trade deals are very Asia focussed. A report citing administration insiders states the priorities are the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. Two Anglo states, but only one outside of Asia.
Such revelations may come as a bitter disappointment to others given, as President Trump has said, nations from all over the world have beat a path to his door to try and bag deals after his tariff announcements. Ultimately, those nations who were already well advanced in trying negotiate deals beforehand may expect to come off better.
Nodding to the differential in trade with other nations, Vance looked to Germany, the lead state of the European Union. He said: “with the United Kingdom, we have a much more reciprocal relationship than we have with, say, Germany… While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany”.
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