Playing chicken | 6 June 2019

Why is it that free trade, which almost everyone agrees is good when conducted with other European countries, suddenly becomes something to be feared when it is proposed with the United States? What is it about American chicken which means that Britons who eat it happily enough when they are on holiday are supposed to fear it when it is imported? And if Americans can offer world-class, well-priced medical services to Britain through the National Health Service, how is that a threat to our social fabric?

On his state visit to Britain this week, President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to do a ‘comprehensive’ trade deal with Britain. Given that we are leaving the EU in order to make our own way in the world, this is a prospect that ought to be welcomed. When Trump was asked about the NHS, he said simply that ‘everything will be on the table’ — to cries of horror from a lot of Tory ministers (and leadership candidates) who should know better. It seems to have sent ‘global Britain’ Tories into a protectionist spasm. Jeremy Hunt, Matt Hancock and Sam Gyimah were furiously declaring that under no circumstances would our health service be opened up to US firms.

When Tony Blair was prime minister, he spent a good deal of time thinking of ways to lure US health giants to come to Britain and open treatment centres to help the NHS clear its waiting lists for knee operations and hip replacements. Under a supposedly Tory government, these same companies are treated not as welcome investors but as a threat. This fits a trend. Two years ago, Michael Gove shot down the possibility of allowing chicken that has been washed in chlorine (a common practice in the US poultry industry) on to the UK market. Were US officials to try to make chicken a condition of any trade deal, Gove said that they could ‘kiss goodbye’ to a trade deal with Britain.