US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton said the UK is “first in line” for a trade deal with the US.
Mr Bolton said that the US understands the importance of “doing as much as we can agree on as rapidly as possible because of the impending 31 October exit date”.
Mr Bolton made the comments following a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at No 10.
According to the BBC, Mr Bolton said a “series of agreements” could be made “very quickly, very straight-forwardly.”
“To be clear, in the Trump administration, Britain’s constantly at the front of the trade queue, or line as we say,” said Mr Bolton.
“We want to move very quickly. We wish we could have moved further along in this with the prior government.”
He said that both him and President Trump “were leavers before there were leavers.”
“The ultimate end result is a comprehensive trade agreement covering all trading goods and services,” Mr Bolton said.
“But to get to that you could do it sector by sector, and you can do it in a modular fashion. In other words, you can carve out some areas where it might be possible to reach a bilateral agreement very quickly, very straightforwardly.”
“Britain’s success in successfully exiting the European Union will be a statement about democratic rule and constitutional government”, he added. “That’s important for Britain. But it’s important for the United States, too. So we see a successful exit as being very much in our interest, and there’s no quid pro quo on any of these issues.”
