LONDON — Britain has ruled out any future trade deal with the United States that would undermine British food standards, a government minister said Thursday.
“We have always been very clear that we will do nothing in trade deals that will undermine our important standards in this country,” Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner told MPs.
The minister was addressing concerns raised by Plaid Cymru MP Ann Davies ahead of a speech tonight by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
“The chancellor today is hailing the benefits of free trade in a plea to Donald Trump,” Davies said. “However, any future trade deal with the U.S. will enable cheap food such as hormone-treated beef to flood our markets, which would be devastating for farmers and food security.”
Her comments come amid fears the U.K. government could face mounting pressure from the U.S. to weaken its agricultural standards to secure a trade deal and skirt tariffs. U.S. President-elect Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of between 10-20 percent on all imports when he enters office.
U.K. Environment Secretary Steve Reed has previously sought to reassure farmers on trade, promising “no more deals like the ones we saw with Australia and New Zealand.”
Farmers reacted furiously when former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed away greater access to British markets, stoking fears of a flood of beef and lamb imports from Australia and New Zealand. Both deals, which came into force in May 2023, will ultimately result in Australia and New Zealand obtaining tariff-free access to the U.K. market for beef and lamb.
Underscoring Reed’s comments on Thursday, Zeichner described the trade agreements as “one of the great betrayals of the previous government of the British farming industry.”
“Those trade deals did no credit to our country. But we are going to approach this differently,” he said.
Zeichner added that supporting farmers was an “absolute priority for this government.”
“We’ve been clear that we will protect farmers from being undercut by low-welfare and low standards in trade deals. We are also working to reset our relationship with our European friends to strengthen ties and tackle barriers, helping to boost trade … through a U.K.-EU sanitary and phytosanitary veterinary agreement,” he continued.
The post UK won’t weaken food standards to land a Trump trade deal, minister says appeared first on Politico.
