U.S. Wants to Start on U.K. Trade Deal ‘Very Soon,’ Kudlow Says

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. wants to soon start work on a trade deal with the U.K. after recently closing agreements with Mexico and Canada and with China, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said Monday.

“We look forward to a trade deal with Prime Minister Boris Johnson; we’ll probably get started on that very soon,” Kudlow told reporters Monday in Washington. He said he plans to visit the U.K. early next year with National Security Council official Matthew Pottinger.

Johnson, who won a clear parliamentary majority in an election last week, spoke with Trump by phone on Monday, discussing issues including “the negotiation of an ambitious free-trade agreement,” the prime minister’s office said in an emailed statement. Trump, in a tweet Friday, again raised the prospect of a “massive new trade deal” after the U.K. leaves the European Union.

The U.S. and China last week agreed to the first phase of a broader trade agreement that will see Trump reduce tariffs on Chinese goods, at least temporarily calming fears of an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

On Tuesday, the U.S., Mexico and Canada signed amendments to a trade agreement they first reached more than a year ago, paving the way for the three countries’ legislatures to ratify the deal.