US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said America would be ready with “pen in hand” to sign a new trade deal with the UK the after it leaves the EU, despite reservations from the US lawmakers who must approve any deal.
Mr Pompeo spoke following a meeting with British foreign secretary Dominic Raab, one of two close cabinet allies to UK prime minister Boris Johnson that are visiting the US this week as the new British government looks to strengthen bilateral relations with Washington after Brexit.
“We support the United Kingdom’s sovereign choice, however Brexit ultimately shakes out,” Mr Pompeo said. “And we’ll be on the doorstep — pen in hand — ready to sign a new free trade agreement at the earliest possible time.”
But potentially standing in the way of a deal are Irish-American politicians, who wield great influence over US trade policy. Richard Neal, a Massachusetts member of the US House of Representatives, is the Democratic chairman of both the Congressional Friends of Ireland caucus and the House ways and means committee, which holds the power to approve or block any US-UK trade deal.
Several US politicians with affiliations to Ireland have already explicitly warned that there will be no trade deal with the UK unless a “soft” border is maintained between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
Brendan Boyle, a Democratic representative from Pennsylvania on the House ways and means committee, said on Wednesday the idea that the US and UK could sign a trade agreement quickly was a “fantasy”.
“The focus of the ways and means committee and [US trade representatives Robert] Lighthizer has been almost exclusively on China and USMCA (US-Mexico-Canada Agremeent),” Mr Boyle said. “Even in the best of circumstance, the idea that we would drop everything and move towards a deal with the UK, a market of 60m people, is fantasy land.”
Mr Boyle said there was still broad bipartisan support for honouring the Good Friday peace accord for Ireland among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Mr Raab said that he was “clear” that even in a no-deal Brexit scenario, the British government would “do whatever it takes to avoid any hard border between the North and the Republic [of Ireland]”. Mr Pompeo said he was “confident” that the “fundamental premises that were contained in the Good Friday Agreement” could be preserved.
The UK’s hopes of striking a trade deal with the US were boosted by a letter from 45 Republican senators, however, led by Tom Cotton of Arkansas, pledging that America would do all it could to strike a bilateral trade deal, even if the UK left the EU without an agreement.
“If Britain leaves the EU with no deal, we will work with our administration, your government and our friends in the EU to minimise disruptions in critical matters such as international air travel, financial transactions, and the shipment of medicine, food and other vital supplies,” the senators wrote.
Mr Raab and UK international trade secretary Liz Truss both met senior figures in President Donald Trump’s administration this week to further efforts to strike a trade deal once Britain has left the EU.
The foreign secretary met Mr Trump and US vice-president Mike Pence on Tuesday evening, and Mr Pompeo and John Bolton, the president’s national security adviser, on Wednesday.
Ms Truss has met Mr Lighthizer and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross. She said: “Negotiating and signing an exciting new free trade agreement with the US is one of my top priorities.”
Mr Raab and Ms Truss are the first cabinet ministers to visit Washington since the resignation of the UK’s ambassador to the US Sir Kim Darroch last month, following a diplomatic row over leaked cables which criticised the Trump administration.
Sir Kim opted to leave his post, in part due to criticism from Mr Trump but also Mr Johnson’s lack of support during the Conservative party leadership contest. Downing Street and the Foreign Office have yet to announce a new ambassador.
