The Trump Slump’ is real and it has echoes of Brexit

Leaving the EU would reverse our economic fortune, Britain was told nine years ago now the US president raves about a new era for America. We shall see, warns Chris Blackhurst

- Chris Blackhurst

One of the few jarring notes in Donald Trump’s imperious address to Congress was the reference to tariffs and their impact. There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.” Then he moved quickly on, laying out his vision for the “golden age of America” and declaring that “the American dream is unstoppable”.

For watchers in the UK, the speech had a familiar ring. Under Boris Johnson, we became used to brazen boosterism, outlandish claims, and promises that were not delivered. None more so than the ones that were made about Brexit. Exiting the EU would presage an economic rebirth, clearing the path for an independent, free, booming Britain. That has not happened.

The Brexiteers will point to the way in which Keir Starmer is acting as a bridge between the US and Europe, how he’s leading Europe rather than being led, and Britain’s avoidance of the worst of Trump’s levies, as some sort of Brexit dividend. Really? If a global trade war erupts – and the signs are that it will – then the UK will not escape. We will be just as much affected as everyone else.

As for the idea (also posited by the anti-EU brigade) that the EU powerhouse of Germany has slumped, and other bloc members are also in the doldrums, and the UK has not been dragged down with them – it’s not as if the domestic economy is exactly firing on all cylinders at present.

The major trade deals we were assured would materialise have simply not transpired. One might, with the US, but where Trump is concerned, the adage “many a slip between cup and lip” has never been more apposite.