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Ever since the EU Referendum in 2016, Unionsafety has alerted readers of this website to the negative effects that a trade deal with the USA will have on our country, not only financially but critically in view of the demands of the USA for the UK to adopt their standards of food safety, environmental protection regulations, consumer protection regulations, farming and food standards, animal welfare standards; and their relaxed attitude towards regulating substances that are harmful to health. The European Union and by extension, the UK, currently leads the world in all of those crucial areas which safeguard as much as possible, human and planetary health.
However, the true reasons for wanting to leave the EU was nothing to do with immigration, but everything to do with de-regulation of work, of business and of products in order to maximise profits for companies and billionaires and had nothing to do with sovereignty. In fact when it comes to 'taking back control', the true meaning of that sloganised phrase was 'Take Back Control from the scientists, law makers, regulators and those countries whose laws and standards compromises our demands to maximise our profit in any way we can!' Further, the evidence is clear that the UK was part of the world's biggest trading area, with the USA admitting as such in their annual report on Trade Barriers:
The United States and the Member States of the EU share the largest economic relationship in the world. Trade and investment flows between the United States and the EU are a key pillar of prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. Transatlantic trade flows (goods and services trade plus earnings and payments on investment) averaged $5.3 billion per day in 2017 (latest data available), and the total stock of transatlantic investment was $5.6 trillion in 2017. The full document can be downloaded from this website's E-Library using key search word of 'USTR' here Pages 171 to 216 of a the 547 page document entitled '2020 National Trade Estimate Report On Foreign Trade Barriers' identifies just in what areas the USA sees the EU as having legal barriers to trading with the USA. Of course no such situation exists, given the amount of Trade the US already does with the EU. The true aim of the USA and its so-called 'Free' Trade Agreements and the ISDS element within; is to dominate the world's commerce and enforce the lower standards of the USA onto the rest of the world.
With any non-aligned standards being considered by the USA as having a trade competitive advantage to the other side, and being a barrier to trade, even pay and terms and conditions regulations existing and in future made by the UK Government, the pressure to reduce employment legislation to that of the USA, and the complete apparent willingness of numerous Tory MPS and Cabinet members to do this; makes the impact on any trade deal with the USA extremely detrimental to the lives of working people of this country in the event this were to happen. The signs are not looking good with the Government attacking Trade Unions and the rights of employees frequently in the last ten years. The reality is that not only will the US demand we take on their standards, not only in the above areas, but that will do so also in that of Health & Safety at Work protections, and healthcare. The NHS will also be in the firing line for grabs by the USA as further and further privatisation and the fragmentation of NHS services continue under this Tory government, enabling US healthcare companies to take over by buying out these privatised services. Furthermore, in any Trade Deal, American companies will be allowed to bid for NHS contracts, and indeed buy up all NHS hospitals, buildings and land if they so wished to do so. There are several documents in this website's E-Library which provide the proof of the above assertions and not least in the form of US Trade documents, minutes of meetings and from UK organisations opposing the current ideas of a deal with the US that this Government is preparing and negotiating. With the requirement for a successive trade deal as far as this Government appears to be concerned, being a no-deal exit from the transition period with the EU and certainly no 'level playing field'; the UK will then be free to make any deal with the US that it deems as being the most profitable for the private companies and tax-dodging individuals billionaires and millionaires of the UK. Agriculture and the exporting of American food around the world is a major factor in EVERY trade deal the USA completes. This is the latest Fact sheet from the grandly named Office of The United States Trade Representative (USTR) entitled ' Fighting to Open Foreign Markets to American Agriculture'
The intent is clear - American Food for the World - forget the quality and health standards therein! The USTR aim of course is a broad statement and includes the exportation products manufactured by Monsanto (now bought by Bayer) and other such companies producing bee killing (sold as Roundup) and carcinogenic products. It is a glyphosate-based herbicide which is considered to be carcinogenic and lethal to the Bee population of the world. In countries discussing a ban on this product, they are facing huge legal costs as Monsanto challenges every single claim against their product and that is without even the ISDS element of court action in countries that have an FTA with the US. In addition their GM seeds are being forced upon the world with farmers who replant the seeds being sued for copyright infringement for doing what farmers have always done with seeds. In this case the alternative is for framers to be forced to buy new seeds from Monsanto each planting season. Even farmers ion the USA have gone through bankruptcy as a result of Monsanto's pursuit of them through the courts. But the greatest threat to democracy in the UK and our living standards comes from our own Government! Free to make our own laws? This is the biggest smokescreen and lie that this government is perpetrating upon the British people. Because of the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) built into ALL trade deals with the US, Governments are prevented by the threat of being sued in secret courts based in Washington; from making any laws that may be detrimental to the EXISTING AND FUTURE profits of companies! That means any to do with food safety standards, environmental protection regulations, consumer protection regulations, farming and food standards, animal welfare standards; and the regulating of substances that are harmful to health. But it goes even further: Government revenue via Tax Income is also the target of a country that puts free enterprise and profit above everything! This is just one example from the Office of United States Trade Representative fact sheet issued March 2020 entitled 'Strong, Binding Rules to Advance Digital Trade':
Digital Services Taxes
Those opposing trade deals which include the ISDS element, state that this is the most anti-democratic element of Free Trade Agreements ever seen. The number of countries being sued by private businesses is increasing and costing them Billions and of course has the knock-on affect of making countries think twice before introducing any laws in the above areas of human and planetary safety. We can expect a plethora of take-overs of UK companies by US companies in order to then close those companies down, sack the workforce and import cheap American goods to replace them into the UK. This is precisely what happened in the 1980's in Canada following their first free trade agreement with the the USA. You can download the Trump Selection leaflet above in PDF format here and access a large range of documentation and information on the secret trade deal with the USA via the E-Library using the search category 'Brexit' here Source: GOV.UK / US Trade Commission / The Guardian / The Independent / BBC news / Channel 4 News / The Mail on-line / Global Justice / Best For Britain / Greenpeace / USTR website
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However this document gives UK readers the full list of areas in which the UK will have lower it's Trading Standards and align with the USA. After all the UK currently has those same 'barriers to trade' as far as the US is concerned, and for an effective trade agreement with the USA; this country will have to drop all of those existing standards and protections from the worst in US Commerce and accept products of lower, and some cases, much lower standards and safety that it currently has. 
