Mr Trump to secure a deal that both sides once insisted would be done swiftly.
Speaking ahead of breakfast-time talks at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, the PM made clear he would
tell Mr Trump that the key US priority of access for its healthcare corporations to NHS contracts is “not on
the table”.
And he said that the US would have to lift “very considerable barriers” to UK products ranging from railway
carriages to pork pies and cauliflowers being sold in US markets.
In an indication that Downing Street accepts a US trade deal will not follow hot on the heels of the UK’s
planned departure from the EU on 31 October, a senior British official said: “We want a deal as soon as we
can, but it has to be a deal which works for the UK.”
The much-vaunted transatlantic accord has already hit obstacles from British opposition to accepting US
chlorinated chicken and hormone-boosted beef. And London gave a lukewarm response to suggestions from
Trump envoy John Bolton that speedy mini-deals on cars and manufacturing could be concluded separately
to prevent them being bogged down in lengthy wrangles over agriculture, healthcare and digital services.
As Mr Trump threatened to tax French wine “like they’ve never seen before” in retaliation for Emmanuel
Macron’s levies on US tech companies, Mr Johnson signalled he may be ready to give ground on the UK’s
proposed digital services tax on social media and internet search giants.
“We must do something to tax fairly and properly the online businesses that have such colossal sales in our
country,” said the PM. “We must do something to ensure we tax them properly.”
Donald Trump talks to the media as he sits for
lunch with French president Emmanuel
Macron (AP)But he added: “I am open to discussion about how we do that and I am willing to listen to our American
friends about the modalities but we must do something to tax them fairly.”
Mr Johnson revealed that he used an eve-of-summit phone call with Trump on Friday to list a series of
gripes about the treatment of UK companies, including:
Restrictions on the sale of British-made shower trays, whose lips are too low for US standards regulations
Requirements for UK wallpaper, pillows and fabrics to be subjected to additional fire tests in the US,
despite already being tested in the UK
US tariffs of 14 per cent on railway carriages imported from the UK, when the same product exported
from America to Britain attracts a tariff of just 1.7 per cent
The failure of the US to resume imports of British beef since the 2014 lifting of a ban imposed because of