A trade deal with Trump: Why we need to reject the Big Tech wishlist
Global Justice Now | April 2025
A trade deal with Trump: Why we need to reject the Big Tech wishlist
The UK is trying (again) to get a trade deal with the US
Days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Keir
Starmer told news site Politico that he wanted to start
negotiations on a trade deal with the United States
as soon as possible. When the two men met a month
later, Trump agreed, saying he wanted a “great trade
deal” and that he thought it was possible “very quickly.”
The UK has twice tried to agree a trade deal with
the US – first the transatlantic trade & investment
partnership or TTIP, and then the post-Brexit
US-UK trade deal. Talks failed both times after the
public realised that the deals would pose a threat to
food standards, farmer’s livelihoods, public services
like the NHS, and more besides.
This time, British Ambassador Peter Mandelson
has called for a ‘Make our Economies Great Again’
agreement which would focus more on “clicks and
portals than goods and mortar,” suggesting the deal
could be focused on digital technology. But there is
no evidence that Britain will be able to limit a deal
in this way – and plenty to suggest that our public
services and food standards could indeed be ‘on the
table.’ But even a digital-only trade deal carries its
own serious threats for UK citizens, workers, public
services, democracy and the environment.
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