post-Brexit deal with US called "delusional" + No closer ties with UK & Canada + Beer

[C C]

Top Obama aide dismisses chances of UK Brexit trade pact as 'delusional' (UK, US communities)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/t...s-18854276

INTRO: Britain's hopes of striking a major post-Brexit trade deal with the US have suffered a damaging blow. Larry Summers, one of ex-President Barack Obama’s top economic advisers, claimed Boris Johnson ’s chances of a favourable agreement were “delusional”. The former US Treasury Secretary’s warning that the UK would have “no leverage” in trade negotiations came as Dominic Raab arrived in Washington. The new Foreign Secretary has pledged to “fire up” Britain’s economic relations outside the EU.

But Mr Summers said: “If Britain thinks American financial regulators, who have difficulty coming together on anything, are going to come together to give greater permissions and less regulation to UK firms, I would call that belief close to delusional. Britain has much less to give than Europe as a whole did, therefore less reason for the US to make concessions. You make more concessions dealing with a wealthy man than you do dealing with a poor man. Second, Britain has no leverage. Britain is desperate. It needs an agreement very soon.” (MORE)

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Don’t expect closer ties between Britain and Canada any time soon (UK, Canadian communities)
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/politic...time-soon/

INTRO: New British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab came to tell us Canadians we’ll be even closer partners after Brexit. But no, Mr. Raab, you’ll be too busy staring at your navel for the next few years, and sorting out the mess with your biggest partners after Brexit, for us to focus on each other.

We Canadians know what that’s like. When Donald Trump was threatening to tear up NAFTA, there wasn’t anything more all-consuming than getting through a renegotiation. In the meantime, Britain won’t have the bandwidth to make Canada a closer partner. And the truth is, Canada doesn’t have to see Britain as crucial, either.

Of course, much depends on whether Mr. Raab’s boss, new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, stays in power long enough to execute a departure from the European Union on Oct. 31, deal or no deal. That’s far from certain. (MORE)

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British beer waits to see what's brewing with Brexit (UK community)
https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/british...oc-1jd2hm1

INTRO: Britain's beer industry is in limbo, waiting to see what is in the pipeline for brewers, pubs and drinkers after Brexit -- but the glass is by no means half-empty. The country is now set to leave the European Union on October 31, with the manner of its departure still up in the air.

As the five-day Great British Beer Festival kicked off in London on Tuesday, organisers said Brexit could harbour new opportunities. But they also urged the government to do all it could to mitigate against the chronic disruption predicted in a messy no-deal departure from the bloc.

"Everyone in the industry is concerned about the potential impacts of leaving the EU -- and it's unclear what they are," Tom Stainer, chief executive of festival organisers the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), told AFP. The 190,000-member consumer organisation works to preserve traditional British beer and pub culture, lobbying politicians to support the sector. "The brewing industry relies on imported hops and malts, and on exports. CAMRA is urging the government to mitigate any potential impacts as much as possible," Stainer said. "They can remove potential shocks by giving stability: reducing beer tax and sorting out business rates."

The Society of Independent Brewers, which represents around 830 independent craft breweries, has published an eight-point guide for members to follow in preparing for a no-deal Brexit... (MORE)

[Syne]

You don't need leverage in a real, good-faith free trade agreement.

[Yazata]

I see that CC is busy posting "Operation Fear" fake-news stories.

Top Obama aide dismisses chances of UK Brexit trade pact as 'delusional'

"Top Obama aide" tells us something right there. The trendy-metropolitan-left has been inventing fanciful stories about the horrors of Brexit since well before the vote in 2016. (It's more or less paralleled the epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome here in the US.) The UK Pound was going to collapse in value, the FTSE was going to nose-dive, London-based corporations were going to begin an exodus to the continent, and Britain was going to spiral into a depression. All the newspapers and TV pundits were saying it with absolute certainty.

But surprise! After Brexit passed in 2016, Britain's been out-performing the rest of Europe. (Germany currently seems to be the place headed into recession.) 

Britain's hopes of striking a major post-Brexit trade deal with the US have suffered a damaging blow.

What "damaging blow" is that? A former "top Obama aide" dissed it?

Larry Summers, one of ex-President Barack Obama’s top economic advisers, claimed Boris Johnson ’s chances of a favourable agreement were “delusional”.

So why are UK free trade arrangements with the EU such a desireable and even necessary thing, while similar hopes for similar arrangements with the United States merely a "delusion"? Summers and his ilk still need to present that part of their argument and not just repeat what the London bankers in expensive suits tell them to say. Right now there are big gaps in the narrative and the conclusion is a non-sequitur.

The former US Treasury Secretary’s warning that the UK would have “no leverage” in trade negotiations came as Dominic Raab arrived in Washington. The new Foreign Secretary has pledged to “fire up” Britain’s economic relations outside the EU.

Australia has already signaled its eagerness to rapidly make a trade deal with an independent UK, similar to the very lucrative one they had before the UK dumped them and joined the Common Market (the EU's predecessor). I expect that the UK can do mutually advantageous deals with Japan (the world's third-largest economy) and places like that. Maybe even India and Brazil. The United States is obviously the biggie, since the US economy alone is as big as the entire EU's. Point being: The UK has plenty of options. Nobody should pretend that being a subordinate province of the EU is the only realistic option that the UK has.

But Mr Summers said: “If Britain thinks American financial regulators, who have difficulty coming together on anything, are going to come together to give greater permissions and less regulation to UK firms, I would call that belief close to delusional.

Ah, the hidden agenda starts to leak out. "Financial regulators". This isn't about British manufactured goods or pharmaceuticals to the US or US agricultural products to the UK, or anything like that. It's about Canary Wharf. The London financial firms have been leading the resistance to Brexit, flooding Whitehall with lobbyists and planting Brexit horror-stories in all the media, because the banks, brokers and money management firms fear losing their access to their European market. The US financial market is huge, but it's already well served by US financial institutions and appears to be a tougher nut to crack.

The London financial industry in their expensive suits are... scared. Scared that they might have to actually compete with the Americans. But they have former "top Obama aides" carrying water for them in hopes of keeping them in the cosseted EU where they can play top-dog, even at the cost of the United Kingdom's sovereignty and ultimately its national identity. Things that are of no concern to former Obama aides (with cushy Harvard professorships naturally) or to globalist international London bankers, many of whom aren't even ethnic British, who only want to make money for their employers, collect their huge bonuses and get rich. And care nothing for the UK while they are doing it.

Britain has much less to give than Europe as a whole did, therefore less reason for the US to make concessions. You make more concessions dealing with a wealthy man than you do dealing with a poor man. Second, Britain has no leverage. Britain is desperate. It needs an agreement very soon.”

The United States negotiating a trade deal with the UK shouldn't be spun as something painful for the US that we will have to be strong-armed into signing. Ideally it will be a mutually advantageous arrangement for both sides. The point of UK independence is that now London can make the decision whether the deal is advantageous for themselves, rather than having Brussels make it for them (based more on the interests of the entire EU which in practice means what's good for Germany and France).

New British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab came to tell us Canadians we’ll be even closer partners after Brexit. But no, Mr. Raab, you’ll be too busy staring at your navel for the next few years, and sorting out the mess with your biggest partners after Brexit, for us to focus on each other.

Britain is signalling that it's ready for a trade-deal with Canada. It's up to Canada to decide whether they want to do one.

Basing that decision on the fact that the Trump administration wants to do one, so the current Canadian leadership has to oppose the idea out of hatred for Trump, is just stupid. But Canadians often surprise Americans with their capacities in that regard.