Feb 16th, 2017
UK-US Trade – Have Your Say
By Nicole G
President Trump is getting ready to thrash out a trade deal with the UK. This week an influential group of MPs are asking for ideas on how the UK should approach the deal. What they say will impact what the government does.
Lots of international businesses are jumping at the chance to get their demands heard. But right now MPs aren’t hearing from the people that will actually be affected by the deal – us. That’s where we come in.
MPs want to know what they should prioritise – like boosting small businesses on our high street. But they also want to know what the deal shouldn’t include – like opening up our NHS to privatisation from US companies.
So, will you take a short survey now to have your say on a trade deal with the US? It will take less than 5 minutes. You don’t need to be an expert to add your view. Here’s the first question:
Trade deals should maintain current safety standards for products for sale in the UK (e.g. food, medicines, electronics). Our safety standards should not be relaxed if the country we are trading with has lower standards.
MPs are wary of the huge public outcry 38 Degrees members led against the dodgy EU-US TTIP trade deal. They’re worried that similar opposition could delay negotiations with the US. So we have a huge opportunity to shape any UK trade deal with Trump’s America.
For example we could make keeping our existing food standards non-negotiable. It’s no secret that food in America is riddled with chemicals we don’t allow in the UK. We can make sure any deal puts our health and the safety of the food we eat first.
There’s lots of good things we could push for in this trade deal too. We could make sure small British businesses get a good deal when selling to the US or secure cheaper prices in the shops without compromising on quality.
Please can you take the 5 minute survey to help decide the priorities and red lines for a UK-US trade deal?
Whether we voted Leave, Remain or didn’t vote at all, this is a chance to find common ground for an approach that’s fair to everyone. That’s why 38 Degrees members have been crowd-sourcing a vision for how the UK can thrive after Brexit, covering everything from trade to protecting our NHS.
There are millions of us receiving this email. If each of us gives our opinions, it will be hard for MPs to ignore.
Together we can make sure that people that use the NHS or families who buy their food in big supermarkets have a say on any UK-US deal.
