Former US President Donald Trump was big supporter of Brexit and regularly talked up the prospect of a mammoth trade deal with the UK. But his defeat in the US presidential election to Joe Biden has seen momentum towards an agreement between the two global superpowers dramatically slow. Mr Biden has not spoken so glowingly of the UK’s departure from the European Union and has expressed his frustration at Britain’s implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The US President, who is of Irish heritage, has previously warned he would “ensure there was no US-UK trade deal if the implementation of Brexit imperils the Good Friday Agreement”.
However, he is now facing one of the biggest tests of his presidency, with his disapproval rating surging to a record high in December as an increasing number of voters grow frustrated with his administration over the handling of the economy and Covid pandemic.
A new CNBC/Change Research poll of 1,895 respondents found 56 percent of voters say they disapprove of the job he is doing – the worst such reading of his year-long presidency.
The Democrat’s approval rating now stands at just 44 percent, down from 46 percent in September and 51 percent in April.
Now a crunch year is upon the him with the US midterm elections in November, and foreign policy analyst Nile Gardiner has warned a poor result could provide a major shift in momentum for a UK-US trade deal.
He told Express.co.uk: “Things could change after next November’s midterm elections where polls are projecting a huge Republican landslide, which would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the US Congress.
“If that change happens, there would be far greater pressure on the White House to move forward with a trade deal.
“The midterms are a game-changer, as is the presidential election in 2024, if you have a conservative president keen to move forward with a trade deal.”
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“That is the result of the Biden administration’s animosity towards Brexit and the unwillingness from that administration to move forward with a US-UK free trade deal.
“The Biden presidency has been hugely unhelpful in regards to UK-US relations and Biden’s foreign policy has been a complete disaster, as we saw with the Afghanistan withdrawal, damaging the US standing in the world.
“There isn’t any momentum from the administration to move forward with a trade deal.
“That is a huge mistake because a trade deal between the world’s largest and fifth largest economies will create several new jobs for Americans and is good for the US economy.
In a further attack against the US President, Mr Gardiner added: “The Biden administration is obsessed with the NI Protocol issue and are recycling the talking points given to them by the EU.
“They are parroting the propaganda of Brussels.”