Trump has always rhetorically supported Britain's exit from the European Union and he even criticized former Prime Minister Theresa May for not getting it done, but as far as I know this is the first time a Trump regime official has formally encouraged and offered to support the United Kingdom after the Brexit.
Trump's national security adviser John Bolton is in London today where he reportedly promised that the United States will sign a free trade deal with the United Kingdom.
Bolton also reportedly told British officials that the European Union is 'worse than China.'
A central message Bolton was making is that the United States will help cushion Britain’s exit from the EU with a free trade agreement that is being negotiated by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his British counterpart, Liz Truss. [...]
Trump had wanted to work with the May government on a trade deal but her government “didn’t want do it. This government does. We’re very happy about it,” the official told reporters traveling with Bolton.
Trump believes that “when it comes to trade negotiations the EU is worse than China, only smaller,” the official said.
You know, Trump's fake replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is almost identical to the original deal, was agreed to more than a year ago and still hasn't even been considered by either chamber of Congress. And it probably won't be until at least next year if it ever is.
The idea that the U.S. and Britain could negotiate, sign, and ratify a free trade agreement within the next two or three years (let alone two or three months) is a fantasy but, more importantly, it wouldn't help.
A trade agreement with the U.S. cannot replace free access to the 500 million consumers who call the European Union (EU) home. British industries that export as much as 60 percent of their goods to the EU will not suddenly find a market for those goods in the US. That's not how anything works. You know, I enjoy lamb, but there's not that big of a market for lamb in the United States.
Deep down, officials on both sides of the Atlantic know they're selling their constituents a bill of goods, but happy rhetoric is all they have left to push a Brexit across the finish line.