Are you ready for chlorinated chicken in your kebabs? Doesn’t bother me, I’m vegan. Thoughts? What do you think Labour have won (or given up and dressed up like a win)?
I wish we lived lived in a world where we could tell the US to just fuck off.
@florge @mannycalavera
I agree. But the US controls UK arms, the real reason fir the ‘special relationship’.Can we after the B word everyone got sick of hearing about?
I think it will be fairly narrow in scope, with both sides of the Atlantic trying to spin it into a big win, which they both need right now.
However it wouldn’t surprise me if Keir has managed to create a deal to the UK’s detriment in a misguided effort at maintaining the “special relationship”.
It is narrow. BBC’s key point are:
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Donald Trump removes the 25% tariff on UK steel and aluminium, and immediately cuts the rate on most car exports from 27.5% to 10%
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The lower car rate applies to the first 100,000 vehicles exported from the UK to the US each year - 101,000 were exported last year
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In return, the UK government says it’s removing the tariff on ethanol for US goods, and agrees “reciprocal market access on beef”
So we get to sell them steel, aluminium, cars, and beef. They get to sell us ethanol and beef.
I think we got the better end of that unless ethanol is massive in some way I’m not aware of. Having a larger market for British steel is at least joined up thinking given the recent issues with the Scunthorpe works.
Of all the animals products to take from the US, I think beef is probably one of the higher quality ones, although I may be wrong. I’d worry about our cattle farmers competing… But maybe more selling opportunities is more valuable. Americans do eat a lot of it.
Unless they are lowering standards there will be practially no US beef imported to the UK. Almost all US beef cows are pumped up with growth hormones and thats not legal to sell for human consumption in the UK.
I think that’s the point. It’s basically just allowing the US to save face, with the full understanding that nothing will really happen.
Fair enough. I don’t know enough about US cattle farming.
10% of petrol is ethanol now. That’s what the E10 means, so I’d say it’s pretty massive
I’d forgotten that. Haven’t brought petrol or diesel for about 6 years.
Oh, you’re missing out.
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More likely, he knowingly created a deal which is downright suicidal for the UK because he and some other MPs will get good money out of it.
Chlorinated chicken isn’t happening, it’s been ruled out time and again.
Food standards and animal welfare is something that’s taken quite seriously by both our politicians and our populace. The EU has strict food standards and yet our minimum standards are substantially higher than theirs (somewhat surprising, I know, but it’s true). So to be blunt, I’m not worried at all about food standards.
I’m far more worried about other things. Regulation of big tech, data/privacy laws, further rigging IP laws (especially software patents, which are mostly banned in the UK) in a way that benefits US giants.
This damage limitation is, I guess, a good change. Although I’m more pleased about the other stuff going on, we’re shifting to become more self-reliant on some things (particularly defence), and cooperating with continental Europe more again.
I just hope that by next election there’s serious calls to do things like rejoining the Customs Union.
Hopefully yes. But I’m pretty sure Labour have ruled that out permanently. It’s not happening next election assuming Labour win. There’s a long chance the Tory’s might get back and it isn’t happening with them either. A minority coalition style is the best we can hope for to maybe tip the balance. But as long as Labour and Tory special interests align in keeping us outside of the union it’s not happening.
Seems embarrassingly bad deal for UK, but par for their US sycophancy. Accepting 10% tariffs on cars and most everything else, is a big failure. Buying Boeing and $6B in poison is too big of a gift. Tying to US “economic destruction/policy” risks isolating themselves into US sphere.
Hopefully, US readout is an exaggerated lie, as details not settled, but still an embarrassing joke for UK representatives to dignify this event.
