Boris Johnson on Sunday played down expectations of concluding a quick UK-US trade deal after his first meeting as British prime minister with Donald Trump, saying any agreement would require America to make compromises.

Although Mr Johnson said he would “love” to agree a deal “within a year”, he acknowledged there would be significant challenges to overcome if an agreement was going to be finalised rapidly after Britain leaves the EU.“I don’t think people realise quite how protectionist sometimes the US market can be, Mr Johnson told ITV after he held a breakfast meeting with Mr Trump at the G7 summit in Biarritz.

Source: Boris Johnson admits quick US trade deal will be a challenge | Financial Times

Northern Comment…

In very short order we have gone from PM Johnson thinking that no deal was “a million to one chance” to “touch and go”. The swift American trade deal has not survived first contact with the American President. The Prime Minister doesn’t, “… think people realise quite how protectionist sometimes the US market can be, …”   I think for “some people” we can safely replace Boris Johnson. To whom the constraints of power have come as a complete surprise. His model of negotiation is the traditional English approach to foreign languages. All he need do is speak louder and slower and they will understand what we need them to do. Any failure to understand what they have to do is down to European obduracy and unreasonableness.

Any challenge to his negotiation style is treason. Expect much more about collaborators, traitors and an attempt to pin the fiasco of Brexit on anyone other than himself and his pals in the European Research Group, the British equivalent of the Tea Party.

“Can do” is not a strategy. In Mr Johnson’s case it is not even a description. The real tragedy of the coming political dog fight is that it will undermine democracy in the eyes of those who are likely to lose out most from any form of Brexit. I struggle to imagine what special place in hell ought to exist for those politicians who know what a mess they are creating but plough on regardless.