Актуальные проблемы британо-американских торговых отношений

Мировое и национальное хозяйство. 2021. № 3.

Большаков А. В.

The article analyzes the process of free trade agreement negotiations between the United Kingdom and the United States. There are two factors that prevent an all-encompassing deal that removes the full range of accumulated trade problems. Firstly, the European Union will keep Britain in its regulatory area, excluding the possibility of convergence between the British and American regulatory regimes. Secondly, the new US administration will pursue a conservative foreign trade policy. American trade conservatism is fueled by protectionist sentiments in significant segments of both the electorate and elites. The article suggests that this will give rise to a two-speed policy. Bilateral negotiations will proceed at a slow pace, and the tasks of maintaining the functionality of the global trading system will be resolved quickly. The latter include, in particular, the task of restoring the work of the appellate body of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. The most intensive exchange of economic data and political arguments between London and Washington is focused on such topics as mutual liberalization of agricultural trade, the access of American companies to the British pharmaceutical market and the UK’s introduction of the digital services tax. The politicization of these problems minimizes the possibility of their early resolution. The author concludes that there is a high probability of a mini-deal, including such components as mutual tariff reductions, minimization of barriers to export operations of small and medium-sized enterprises, bilateral investment treaty and facilitating of cross-border trade in digital services.

Keywords: США, внешняя торговля, Великобритания, European Union, foreign trade, Евросоюз, трансатлантическое партнерство, United Kingdom, United States, transatlantic partnership