On Sunday 8th November, former chancellor Sajid Javid hailed President-elect Joe Biden’s US election victory emphasising it was “the right outcome” for the UK. Sajid Javid indicated that the Democrat would be likely to dissipate international tensions and be a closer ally as demonstrated by Mr Biden’s pledge to re-join the World Health Organisation showing his willingness to co-operate across the globe.
He also suggested a Biden presidency would improve Britain’s chances of a favourable trade deal with the US. He suggested that a series of tariffs slapped on goods by Donald Trump would have made it tougher to seal an agreement. In an interview with Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, he said, “I think there is a lot of crossover, a lot of mutual interests – far more than there ever was with a Trump administration. If you look at three or four of the biggest issues right now, the pandemic, for example, he will certainly be taking it more seriously, as we do. He has already said he is going to rejoin the World Health Organisation.”
Asked if a deal would have been easier under Trump, he said, “Not at all. In fact, I think a trade deal with Joe Biden is far more likely. Let’s look at the evidence, let’s look at what Donald Trump actually did when he was in office when it came to trade with the UK. He slapped tariffs on UK aluminium, UK steel, Scotch whisky – that not only hurt people in America in terms of higher prices, but it also cost jobs here in the UK.
“We now want to strike more trade deals across the world and actually what you need is a president who believes in free trade, and that’s what we’re going to have with Joe Biden.”
