Press

Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre for European Reform think tank, agreed, arguing that convergence in those areas made “doing a deal with the US incredibly difficult, as the majority of their aggressive objectives involve removing regulatory barriers to trade, especially when it comes to food standards”.He added that it would make sense for the UK to keep its focus on European links. “I’d question the logic of running into a trade deal with a president who sees trade less as a means of achieving mutual prosperity and more an instrument of war.”

“In the end, most FTA partners will continue to grant preferential treatment to UK exports throughout the transition, but we might need to buy some of them off,” said Sam Lowe, international trade expert with the Centre for European Reform think-tank.
“This is their period of maximum leverage vis-à-vis the UK, so it would be negligent for them not to at least try and get guaranteed concessions, to come into effect once the arrangement has been replaced post-transition, from the UK.”

John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, said May had "advanced a plan that the EU will not accept". "We are heading for something much more economically damaging - unless she changes her red lines."

But, according to Luigi Scazzieri, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in London, neither party’s participation in the next government is likely to result in major changes to Italian foreign policy other than “noises about easing sanctions against Russia,” possible business deals with Moscow, and a “more transactional” approach to the country’s NATO membership.