Stuck between EU and US: Britain's Brexit dilemma

US President Donald Trump's unique brand of disruptive diplomacy appears to have shattered the UK government's claim that Britain can have it all when it comes to trade once it exits the European Union.

Prime Minister Theresa May probably expected a more helpful stance as she welcomed Trump to Britain this week, given that the populist leader has been outspoken in his support for Brexit.

Instead, Trump scorched her policy towards the EU divorce in an interview with The Sun newspaper that shocked Britain's political establishment.

May had ignored his own advice on how best to confront Brussels, he said, while praising her departed foreign secretary.

The colourful Boris Johnson quit rather than take part in turning Britain into a "colony", after May's blueprint for Brexit was signed off by her cabinet.

Johnson, one of the most prominent Brexit campaigners ahead of Britain's June 2016 referendum, had said the country could "have our cake and eat it" by retaining close ties to the EU while also forging ahead with new trade deals with the rest of the world, including the United States.

May's blueprint, fleshed out in a government white paper this week, argued that it was possible through a deal with the EU that would preclude the return of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.

Trump, however, torpedoed such thinking in his interview. He said May's plans to bind Britain's economy closely to its European partners after Brexit would "probably kill" its hopes of a US trade deal.

Both leaders tried to brush aside Trump's incendiary language at a news conference yesterday, insisting they were determined to pursue a post-Brexit pact.

May stressed London could stay on friendly trade terms with both Brussels and Washington. "It's not either or," she said at the press conference.

The allure of a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Washington has propped up much rhetoric by Brexiteers, and kept May determined to go ahead with Trump's visit despite opposition from thousands of protestors who denounced the trip.

That was why the government's white paper was "veiled by strategic ambiguity on trade in goods", said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels.

"The problem is that FTAs don't actually go that far," he added. "There is a great misconception in the Brexit debate about what an FTA can do. Many arguments are hyperbole or even outright false."
But it added: "Trump may be his own worst enemy. By taking on many countries at the same time with behaviour considered unacceptable beyond his own base of fans, Trump may bring others closer together rather than dividing them."