Trump Says US, UK Will Do 'Very Big Trade Deal'
Both the United Kingdom and the United States touted the potential of a free trade agreement after the U.K. leaves the European Union. President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to the press in France after breakfast during the G-7 conference. "We're going to do a very big trade deal -- bigger than we've ever had with the U.K.," Trump said. He said he didn't anticipate any problems in negotiating it and predicted it would happen "pretty quickly."
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Johnson was more cautious on how easy it would be to reach an agreement. "I know that there will be some tough talks ahead, because, at the moment, you know, we still don't -- I don’t think we sell a single joint of British lamb to the United States. We don't sell any beef. We don't sell any pork pies. And there are clearly huge opportunities for the U.K. to penetrate the American market in the way that we currently don't. And we're very interested to talk about that with you."
He also suggested that the U.K. should be exempt from the Jones Act, which restricts shipments between domestic ports to U.S. vessels. Johnson said, "Donald, what we want is for our ships to be able to take freight, say, from New York to Boston, which at the moment they can't do. So, we want cabotage. How about that?"
"Many things -- many things we’re talking about," Trump replied.