Exclusive: U.S. trade deal talks won't start until 2025

Photo: Reuters

Negotiations on a free trade agreement between the US and the UK are unlikely to resume until 2025, after nine years of voting on Brexit in the EU referendum.

US President Joe Biden canceled the talks that were underway under Donald Trump when he took office, putting the prospect of any agreement on the ice.

Rishi Sunak is now is aimed at smaller deals, such as in certain sectors or with individual US states, instead of a comprehensive agreement with America.

A White House spokesman confirmed this on the eve of Biden's trip to Northern Ireland. a week that there were no «active» negotiations on a trade deal.

A UK government insider close to trade policy told The Daily Telegraph that talks are unlikely to resume until at least early 2025, when a US President could be in place.

US elections are set on November 5, 2024. Biden has said he will run for re-election. The Telegraph reported that Downing Street is also planning to hold elections in autumn 2024.

The UK-US free trade deal was seen as one of the potential wins from Brexit by Eurosceptics, who favored leaving the EU in a referendum in June 2016.

First Theresa May and then Boris Johnson publicly demonstrated their desire for such a deal, with significant progress being made in formal talks chaired by Trump.

But America's leadership change ended in such progress. Mr. Biden was cool about the prospect of new trade deals in his 2020 White House bid.

Leftists in his Democratic Party, such as his former rival for the presidential nomination Bernie Sanders, have criticized how the Washington&##39;s approach to free trade has led to US job losses as a result of globalization.

The White House is now has the added complication that Republicans control the House of Representatives, half of the US Congress, making it difficult for the Biden administration to pass laws.

The Free Trade Agreement between the US and the UK must be ratified by Congress. Since Democrats control only the Senate, this means it is harder to get legislation passed.

Ministers are negotiating with the US for an agreement to facilitate the import of rare minerals. It is modeled on what Washington recently did with Japan.

The focus on making deals with some of the 50 US states also remains. An agreement was recently reached with North and South Carolina, and negotiations in Oklahoma are said to be ongoing.

David Jones, vice chairman of the European Study Group, said it is understandable that government ministers want to focus on other countries outside the Americas.

Mr. a more likeable US President.

"Indeed, there were rumors that Biden himself sought [for the US] to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. If that happens, we won't need a two-way deal.

«In the meantime, we can focus on more active trading partners that account for a growing share of the global economy.»

Downing Street downplayed interest in a free trade agreement on Tuesday ahead of the meeting Mr. Sunak and Mr. Biden in Northern Ireland on Wednesday.

When asked if progress could be expected on the agreement at the meeting, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: " trade is not the only way to strengthen trade relations between the UK and the US.