Republicans already preparing for a US-UK trade deal ahead of election
John Bolton says Britain and the US should have already got a trade deal
The Republicans are already preparing to negotiate a trade deal between the US and UK if, as expected, they win back the White House in the Presidential election next year.
Kevin Roberts, the President of the Heritage Foundation, the USA’s biggest think tank, told Express.co.uk that the policy platform and staffing recruitment and training getting ready for a Republican administration includes preparing for a UK-US trade deal.
Mr Roberts, a self-declared “anglophile”, spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk at the National Conservatism conference in Westminster which continues today.
At Heritage, he has already overseen the recruitment and training of thousands of staff for a Republican administration.
He told Express.co.uk that “whoever wins the Republican nomination” will have a UK-US trade deal high on his agenda.
Mr Roberts said: “I think the prospects of a trade deal between the UK and US with a Republican president are really high assuming that the UK want it.
“I’ll stop short of saying it is a certainty because of politics but it is really high.”
He went on: “Heritage is really invested in that.
“All of our policy briefings with aspiring Presidents and their staff that is always an essential part of what we talk about.”
Mr Roberts currently expects it to be a two-horse race between former President Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis but also sees strong contention from former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence among others.
“We have a strong bench,” he said and Heritage is working with all the potential candidates.
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Mr Roberts said that he believes President Joe Biden is anti-British because “he has been captured by the radical left.”
The Heritage President explained: “I would say that is a continuation of a foundation that Obama laid.
“I guess I was expecting him to be a little more centre-led but he has been more captured by the radical leftists.
“Therefore these long-time alliances starting with the special relationship with Britain are things they believe they can just throw away.”
He went on: “The second thing is that it is easy to say that the Biden administration is hapless. I am afraid that Biden himself is hapless but his administration is actually very competent.
“They are very competent radical leftists. So upending American, liberty and the free market must also include the special friendships.”
Mr Roberts also warned the conservative movement in the UK that it needed to up its game.
He said that the current state of centre-right politics in Britain is “distressing”.
He added: “I think the state of the Conservative movement in Britain is worse than in America, which has its problems by the way.
“I think we are healing the fragmentation (in America), Heritage is part of that.
“But in the UK it doesn’t seem to be something at that stage there’s something at that level happening.
“So it is distressing on one level but also on the other hand there is a lot of opportunity for British conservatives, not just elected officials, just to seize the moment if they are willing to do it.
“That’s why Heritage is so happy to back NatCon here in London.”
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