UK Consul General Says His Country Wants US FTA Done 'Very, Very Fast'

The negotiations toward a U.S.-United Kingdom trade agreement, which are happening online, are starting with the commonalities, but Britain's North American trade commissioner and consul general in New York said he thinks they will be able to find a way forward even on the sensitive issues in agriculture.

Consul General Antony Phillipson, who was speaking on a Washington International Trade Association webinar June 11, said it's “hard to overstate how keen we are to do it much quicker than it would normally be done,” and that staffers are using time between the negotiating rounds to work intensively. The second round starts June 15. “We want to do this very, very fast,” he said. “If possible, we want to get something signed before the election.”

Laura Lane, UPS president of global public affairs, said her company has high hopes that the U.K. will be a standard-setter as it leaves the European customs union. “Leapfrog, do it better than anyone else in the world,” she advised, by making customs processes electronic, and setting de minimis at $800.

Currently, the European Union de minimis, which covers the U.K., is 150 euros for duties, but each country sets its de minimis for the value-added tax, which is as low as 10 to 22 euros for some countries.

Phillipson was asked how the U.S.-U.K. deal could be completed if the U.K. has not completed its exit from the EU. He said U.S. negotiators also want to understand “how these processes fit together.” He acknowledged that “there are some areas where we need to have greater clarity where we end up with the EU track.”

But, he said, the U.K. has already established its global tariff levels, and is determined to set its own sanitary and phytosanitary standards. That latter point is important to U.S. agricultural exporters. “We have always known that agriculture is a key issue in any U.S. FTA negotiation,” Phillipson said. “I would note, by the way, we have some offensive interests in the agricultural space,” naming market access for British lamb, and issues around cheese. But he said he thinks there will be a way of moving forward that both sides can agree to.

Another sensitive topic is how breaking with the EU will affect the island of Ireland. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has said he cannot vote for a U.K. free trade deal unless the open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland is preserved. Phillipson said the U.K. is “absolutely on the same page.”

The consul general was also asked about Britain's proposed digital services tax, which is a barrier to votes in Congress, as well. “We do not believe it’s discriminatory,” he said. “We believe it’s reasonable and proportionate.” He said it would be best if the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development could reach an agreement on how to tax digital services, but that the U.K. is concerned that the process is not moving at the OECD “and we don’t think we can just sit back and do nothing.”