MPs criticise ‘top-down’ approach to UK-US trade talks

theguardian.com:

Britain’s trade talks with the US are moving ahead with only “minimal” input from workers, small businesses and thinktanks, according to MPs who accused the UK trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, of shielding her department from outside scrutiny.

Conservative and Labour MPs on the trade select committee also said scrutiny of a deal struck with Australia and New Zealand was in danger of being “rushed through” parliament before they could make an assessment of its impact on imports and exports to and from the Commonwealth countries.

The row came after two days of talks between Trevelyan and the US trade envoy, Katherine Tai, in Aberdeen this week.

It is understood the talks amounted to little more than “exploratory conversations”, according to officials close to the talks.

Officials on both sides discussed the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the global trade system before moving on to talk about on the “principles” governing a potential deal between the UK and US.

The US is the UK’s single largest export destination and UK-US total trade was valued at more than £220bn in 2020. A UK-US free trade agreement could increase trade between both countries by more than £15bn “in the long run”, according to government projections.

Talks have been in progress for more than 18 months against a backdrop of increasing scepticism that a deal can be agreed by the US Congress.

Speaking on Wednesday following a conference on trade, Adam Posen, a former Bank of England policymaker and head of the Washington-based Peterson Institute, said there was little chance of a deal between the UK and the US while the Good Friday agreement, which secured peace in Northern Ireland, remained in jeopardy.

“The US Congress doesn’t want to approve any trade