Britain has capitulated to Trump’s coercive trade. Others must resist

The UK-US trade deal, trumpeted by President Donald Trump as a grand achievement, is no triumph of statecraft. It is a hollow spectacle, political theatre masquerading as economic progress.

For Britain, it lays bare the perils of negotiating from weakness. For other major economies – the European Union, Japan or China – it stands as a cautionary tale. They must heed Britain’s experience: strength, not desperation, must define their approach; substance, not optics, must be their demand.

Strip away the bombast, and the deal reveals itself as lopsided. Britain receives some relief on tariffs on cars and steel, and secures modest access to US markets for agricultural goods but at a steep cost: acquiescence to stringent American standards that threaten to undercut its own producers.