Thread by @SamuelMarcLowe

So I’ve read the full CATO/IFT report on a future “ideal” UK-US free trade agreement and have some thoughts.

ifreetrade.org/pdfs/US-UK-FTA…

First thing to say is that it is devoid of all context and political reality. It doesn’t address fact that some of the suggestions would inevitably create new barriers to trade with EU, nor the economic cost (and evidence suggests it would be a net cost) of divergence from EU.

So, taking all that into account, I would definitely recommend reading it. It’s a substantial piece of work that I would break down into four categories:

1. Standard(ish) US proposals

Examples: notice and comment or SPS chapter (pages and pages just to say ‘get rid of the precautionary principle).

2. Interesting proposals with broader relevance to trade debate generally (largely CATO-inspired).

Examples: constraints on national security exemption or exclusion of ISDS (except for financial services).

3. Proposals that sound nice in theory but you could never see happening in practice due to political and/or regulatory concerns.

Examples: 25% local value added rules of origin threshold; comprehensive mutual recognition of regulatory outcome; FoM (alas!).

4. Weird incongruous hobby-horses (largely from UK-side).

Examples: @ShankerASingham’s obsession with poorly defined “ACMDs”; this absolutely travesty of a sentence (presumably a Barney Reynolds request).

Anyway, as an intellectual exercise (where future UK trade policy is divorced from real world considerations) quite a lot of fun stuff in there - some good, some interesting, some fantastical, some bad, some weird.