Britain will be left “shafted” by Sir Keir Starmer’s new trade deal with the US, Kemi Badenoch has warned.
The Tory leader made the remarks after a phone call between the Prime Minister and Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, confirming an agreement had been reached. During the call, Mr Trump described the UK as “truly one of our great allies” and insisted it was a good deal for the two nations.
But Ms Badenoch noted that UK tariffs on the US were previously 5.1 per cent and have now been updated to 1.8 per cent, whereas US tariffs on the UK stood at 3.4 per cent and have increased to the universal 10 per cent applied to all countries.
She said: “When Labour negotiate, Britain lose. We cut our tariffs. America tripled theirs. Keir Starmer called this ‘historic.’ It’s not historic, we’ve just been shafted!”
In an interview with ITV, Ms Badenoch added: “This is not a free trade agreement, this is not what we were signing. What’s happened is a small tariff deal to fix some of the changes which Donald Trump made last month.”Calling it a historic deal is trying to sell people a pup… We are now in a worse position than we were in March.”
The deal was made possible because of Brexit, according to Mr Trump. He said: “This was separate because of Brexit in particular. It always seemed so natural. This deal just fell into place. The Prime Minister did a fantastic job.”
Sir Keir said: “We are the first country to secure such a deal with the United States and in an era with global insecurity and instability that is so important.” He added: “Our history shows what we can achieve when we work together and what timing for this deal, that we’ve agreed this deal on VE Day.”