Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's new trade deal with the US could trigger a "funeral" for Britain's car manufacturing industry, it has been claimed.Announcing the historic deal via phone call between the two world leaders, US President Donald Trump claimed that the agreement is a "great deal for both countries", with Starmer hailing the "boost to trade" in Britain and across the pond.FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00Well, let's continue this conversation now. I'm delighted to join in the studio by the international journalist Hadley Gamble.
00:06Hadley, welcome to the studio. You were listening in there, nodding along.
00:09I've got to say, I've been through the detail, poring over the detail.
00:12Definitely a great deal for the United States. I'm not seeing such a great deal for the United Kingdom.
00:17And hey, listen, with all due respect to Ms. Elliott, I mean, that just sounded crackers to me.
00:21It is an incredible deal for the United States. This is a week of big wins for the U.S. president.
00:25Obviously, he's got this win on the trade deal. He's got a big win in the American pope, the new pope, Pope Leo.
00:31But also, just look at the optics of this. If this had been a big deal, a great deal for the United Kingdom,
00:37Keir Starmer would have been in the Oval Office, you know, taking his victory lap.
00:41And he wasn't. He was here in the U.K. He was at Jaguar Land Rover.
00:45You saw the faces of the folks standing behind him. They didn't look terribly enthusiastic about this.
00:50Yes. And why was it a funeral? Because this is a company where essentially it's 6 percent.
00:55Right. And we're talking about a 10 percent tariff. So that essentially wipes out their profit margin.
01:01And also, they've said 100,000 cars. And as you and I both have discussed, they sold last year 101,000 cars in the United States.
01:08So that's basically saying that this is a company that can no longer grow in America.
01:12Yeah. And Kemi Badenoch has spoken out on this. She said that the U.K. has been shafted by this deal.
01:19Now, she might well say that because she's the leader of the opposition.
01:23But time and again, when you look at the detail, things like ethanol can now come into the U.K.
01:29at a greatly cheaper rate. Tariffs to zero percent on that.
01:34We're being told the ephemeral benefits of being afforded the security blanket of the U.S.
01:40What does that mean? How does this help British workers?
01:44We're told it's safe-caused British jobs. But the fact of the matter remains this.
01:47Very, very simple, Hadley. This is the worst position for the United Kingdom than it was before the tariffs came in.
01:52Well, essentially, you had very little choice.
01:55To be kind and clear about Keir Starmer here, he had a bad choice or no choice at all.
02:00Right. Because you either went with this or you didn't get a deal at all.
02:03So I'm assuming that that was his thought process here. But that doesn't escape the fact.
02:08You know, this is a country that's in industrial decline at two times the rate of the United States.
02:11This is a country now facing this wealth exodus of billions of dollars.
02:15There's the cost to your economy. So he's trying to do something that is clear.
02:18But what he has done has essentially not been good for this country.
02:21And when you look at just the very basics of it, I mean, the only people that really did well out of this, Rolls-Royce, perhaps, because these are Rolls-Royce engines in Boeing planes, which are now going to be getting at a decent price.
02:32But the questions about, you know, this is perhaps the worst made aircraft in recent history.
02:38So do you really want a Boeing aircraft? You know, you take a step back and look at the details.
02:41As they say, the devil is always in the details.
02:43And Hadley, the point of that, a Boeing aircraft needs a Rolls-Royce engine.
02:47Correct.
02:48It's a component that will benefit American airline sales.
02:53So Rolls-Royce is bolted on. Rolls-Royce, fat hats off to them.
02:56They've done well.
02:59Brexit. Couldn't have mentioned Brexit.
03:00We undoubtedly were at the front of the queue today because of Brexit after Barack Obama told us we'd be at the back of the queue if he voted Brexit.
03:07That didn't quite work out for him.
03:09Sir Keir Starmer, however, was the architect to try and bring down Brexit.
03:13We were the first in line. The rest of the world will be watching.
03:16What do you think the rest of the world, particularly the European Union, will look at this today and think, wow, if Britain, the special relationship, our greatest ally, got this treatment, let's be assuming the brace position.
03:26No doubt about it.
03:27And, you know, just a couple of weeks ago I was at the IMF in Washington.
03:30I had the chance to sit down with the French finance minister.
03:32And he said that we hadn't – he, his country, had not even had, you know, a detailed conversation about what could possibly be in their trade negotiation, their deal.
03:41So, at the same point, you've got to take a step back and think about this within the context of history.
03:46This is VE week.
03:47This is VE day.
03:48The U.S. president claiming a major victory.
03:50Well, you'll remember what happened after World War II to the United States and to Great Britain.
03:54Britain wasn't so great after World War II.
03:57And it was the American century, the 20th century.
03:59So, you've got to question how a prime minister of the United Kingdom could look people in the face and say, this is a great deal.
04:07That, to me, is crackers.
04:08You know, Hadley Gamble, I think you're right.
04:10I think today was a victory in Europe day for the United States.
04:14Hadley Gamble, always a pleasure.
04:15Please come back.
04:16Excellent guest.
04:17Superb.