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Fire Sale: US Ambassador "Enthusiastic" About Trade With UK Amid Brexit Gaffe

The US president ridiculed the deal as a "great deal for the EU" and said that the negotiated agreement could hinder UK-US trade "as the deal stands", angering Downing Street.
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US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson has sought to reduce the Transatlantic tensions by insisting that President Trump is still "enthusiastic" about deepening trade links with Britain after Brexit.

"The president has always said that Brexit is for the British people to decide but as he made clear again this week, he hopes there will be room for an ambitious trade deal with the United States," Mr. Johnson wrote in the Times Red Box. "The prime minister shares this goal and has pledged that the UK will be free to negotiate its own trade deals as soon as you leave the European Union." 

Mr. Johnson also said that the UK and US were "perfect partners" who had shaped "one of the most successful economic partnerships in global history".  

"Imagine what it could mean if we could tear down barriers to business, slash prices for consumers and turbocharge our trading relationship — it would be a game-changer for both of us," he said. 

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The prime minister retaliated on Tuesday, making clear that she would not seek to meet Mr Trump at the G20 in Argentina this weekend. It is highly unusual for No 10 to brief in advance who the prime minister is not seeking a bilateral meeting with, and rarer still for them to include the leader of the UK's most important ally.

Global leaders are set to meet at the G20 Summit in Argentina, where PM May will reiterate support from Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.

MPs from Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party said that Mrs. May had "given up" on negotiating a better deal, with party leader Arlene Foster dismissing claims that the agreement would not result in major regulatory changes.  

READ MORE: Theresa May Defends Brexit Deal After Trump Casts Doubt on Future of UK-US Trade

"The disappointing thing for me is that the prime minister has given up and she is saying this is where we are and we just have to accept it," Mrs. Foster said.

Former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon called the deal "doomed", adding that it "gives us the worst of all worlds — no guarantee of smooth trade in the future and no ability to reduce the tariffs that we need to conclude trade deals with the rest of the world," he said as quoted by the BBC.  

"So, unless the House of Commons can be persuaded somehow that those are possible, then I think, yes, the deal is doomed." 

PM May will travel to Scotland on Wednesday to reiterate the UK's commitment to leaving the European common fisheries policy, stating that Britain will take "full sovereign control over our waters" through the deal. 

But the Scottish government released a report stating that such an exit could cost the "equivalent to £1,610 per person in Scotland compared to EU membership by 2030", with Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon asserting that "no government of Scotland with the interests of this and future generations at heart could possibly accept it".

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