2020 US Elections: Why Do People in the UK Care About Voting?

The US presidential elections will take place on November 3 and the UK will seek to reach a post-Brexit trade deal with whoever wins.

But how might the outcome of the UK elections affect us?

The UK is currently negotiating with the US on terms that were negotiated with the EU. But that will change on January 1 when the UK stops following EU trade rules.

Both the US and the UK are negotiating a trade deal, with the aim of making it easier and cheaper to buy and sell goods from each other.

Given that the new presidential term does not begin until January 20, it is unlikely that an agreement will be reached until later.

And when an agreement is reached it depends, in large part, on the will of the next president.

When it comes to UK export destinations, the US is the UK’s second largest market behind the EU.

A favorable trade agreement between the UK and the US would aim to reduce tariffs (taxes paid on imported goods). This could help keep prices down in the country and make it easier to sell things to the US.

President Donald Trump, who has called himself “Mr. Brexit,” says he wants a quick trade deal.

But if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins, this could be a slower process, as it could prioritize repairing US-EU relations.

Biden was vice president of President Barack Obama, who before the 2016 EU referendum said the UK would be “at the bottom of the line” on any trade deal with the United States, if it voted to leave.

That said, there is no guarantee of a quick trade deal no matter who wins the election; the United States Congress will have a voice and could stop the process.

The UK will renegotiate the way it trades with the US in all areas, and this includes food standards.

Food imported into the UK currently must meet the standards set by the EU, but this will not be the case from 1 January, and new terms will have to be agreed with the US.

In 2019, the Trump administration set some of its priorities in any UK trade deal, one of which was allowing American agricultural products to be sold to the UK with fewer restrictions.

Some fear that the UK will allow the import of food from the US that does not adhere to current food standards.

The debate has centered on chlorine washed chicken, something that is allowed in the US, but not the UK.

The government insists it is committed to high standards, but MPs have so far rejected proposals for imported food to meet current EU standards.

This leaves the door open for chlorinated chicken and other agricultural practices that fall below current standards to be on the table in future trade negotiations.

We’re not sure of Biden’s position, but he apparently told former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg that the United States would not sign anything that America’s chicken farmers did not like.

Under the current UK system, experts decide how much the NHS will pay for drugs, but the US pharmaceutical industry wants to have more say on pricing, and the Trump administration has also said this is a priority in the negotiations.

Biden’s position, again, is less clear.

UK negotiators have stated that in any US trade conversation: “The NHS will not be on the table. The price the NHS pays for drugs will not be on the table.”

There is also another important political dimension to any agreement with the United States: the Irish border.

Last year, the UK and the EU signed an agreement, called a withdrawal agreement, which paved the way for Brexit to occur. It included a plan to avoid checks along the Irish border from January 2021, which is when the new relationship between the UK and the EU will begin.

But the problem has resurfaced after the UK government said it wanted to make changes to the previously agreed deal.

Biden, a man with Irish roots, has made his position clear, tweeting that any trade deal with the UK must depend on “preventing a return to a hard border” with Ireland and “respecting” the Good Friday Agreement.

He says he would not allow peace in Northern Ireland to become a “victim of Brexit.”

This is similar to the position taken by the Trump administration, which has said it wants to “see that the lack of a border is maintained.”

The Irish lobby is powerful in American politics and it would appear that either administration would reject any changes to the border.