Nile Gardiner also warned US freedom to trade had proven one of the “best ways to promote America’s sustained prosperity”. But the director of the Washington based American Conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation said the Biden administration was ignoring this and not helping America’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added: “A critical ingredient of economic freedom, free trade has been an integral part of America’s extraordinary economic progress over the past decades. “Particularly in the context of the current coronavirus pandemic, defending and advancing trade freedom has become more critical. “President Biden’s striking inaction to advance the free trade signals that new, innovative trade agreements between the US and the UK that can actively facilitate America’s economic recovery are not even on the agenda.”
Mr Gardiner, a former aide to British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, also claimed Britain would be “increasingly disappointed with the President’s lack of proactive leadership on the trade front.” Congressmen were hoping both sides would tie up a groundbreaking deal expected to be worth billions this year. But in order to have been fast-tracked through Congress by US President Joe Biden, an agreement would have had to be struck by July 1.
