Emily Thornberry – 2021 Comments on US/Mexico/Canada Agreement U-Turn

The comments made by Emily Thornberry, the Shadow International Trade Secretary, on 22 September 2021.

Within the space of 24 hours, Boris Johnson has taken us from first in line to the back of the queue for a US trade deal, briefed reporters in Washington that we were seeking to join the USMCA instead, and now decided to ditch that idea as well, presumably after someone bothered to read the agreement and realised what it would mean for food standards and the NHS.

It is an utterly farcical way for the Prime Minister to carry on when representing our country abroad, and a shambolic approach to running the UK’s trade policy.

It all leaves the Government not a single step closer to its manifesto commitment to cover 80 per cent of UK trade with free trade deals by the end of next year, and not the slightest clue how it is going to get there.