The economist and academic hotly tipped to be President Trump’s ambassador to the European Union told the Breitbart News Daily Show that “TTIP is a non starter” and won’t progress under the Trump administration.
Speaking to Breitbart London Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam on Friday morning ahead of British Prime Minister May and U.S. President Donald Trump, Professor Theodore ‘Ted’ Malloch talked up the special relationship and dismissed the long-negotiated Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal.
Joking that the TTIP negotiations were now in their “three billionth round”, Kassam asked for Malloch’s take. Responding bluntly, the would-be ambassador replied: “TTIP is a non starter, it isn’t going to happen in the Trump world”.
Kassam said the statement would come as a “big shock” to the European Union, which has invested enormous effort into negotiating a deal with the Obama White House. President Trump’s clear preference for bilateral deals may signal the end for a European hope to negotiate with the United States.
Speaking of the special relationship, Professor Malloch had better news for the British, telling listeners: “This is primarily about a deal, but it is also about resetting the US-UK special relationship which has gone dormant for a decade, and the idea of the English speaking people of the Anglo-sphere, has not been invested in.
“I’d say at the end of the Bush years and certainly for the entire period of Obama when he pivoted toward Asia but certainly away from Britain. Not just removing a bust which is symbolic of Winston Churchill from the White House, but moving to this de-colonist mindset towards other countries in the Muslim world”.
Professor Malloch said that while the special relationship was something familiar to both parties, it would take some getting used to after so long a gap. He said: “So we’re going back to something we knew, we’re learning to dance again, this will be new chemistry because frankly there are some ways they [the President and Prime Minister] are not coupled.
“They are not Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, so they have to in the first instance get to know each other. At least this visit is getting to know this other partner. The special relationship has a long relationship, it has good periods and it has cool periods, but it is highly reliant on the actors”.
Criticising the approach of the British mainstream media which has been willing the Prime Minister to confront President Trump over social justice issues, the economist said he wasn’t sure that was a good idea, and called for positivity.
He said: “I keep on getting these questions from the left wing British press you know, should she talk about torture? Should she call him a misogynist, a racist? Well you know, if you’r meeting someone for the first time if you go in and step on their toes you’re not going to make a good impression. This whole thing is going to be about what I call positivity… the thing that is most likely to come out is an agreement to set up an agreement for a US-UK trade bilateral, which Britain needs, which would be good for the United States, which would be a shot across the bow for the whole of the European Union saying ‘you know, we could have the same deal'”.
The interview came after other comments by Professor Malloch on the future of the European Union. Speaking to the BBC on Thursday he said the European Union needed “taming”, as the Soviet Union had been in the past, and that if other European nations wanted to break free from the EU, the United States would be ready to sign trade deals with them.
Follow Oliver Lane on Twitter: Follow @Oliver_Lane or e-mail to: olane@breitbart.com
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