THE STILLBORN UNITED KINGDOM‒UNITED STATES TRADE AGREEMENT: Political Optimism Meets Vested Interests

With Brexit done and the desire to alter U.S. trade policy in the wake of the election of President Donald Trump, both British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Trump were optimistic that a trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States could be swiftly negotiated. This proved not to be the case despite the efforts of both leaders. We use an Open Economy Politics lens to examine the political and economic forces at work in both the United Kingdom and the United States during the tenure of the Trump administration that led to the initiative being stillborn and why the original optimism was misplaced.