Future U.S.-UK trade deal needs labor, climate protections, enforcement: U.S. lawmaker
January 31, 2020
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A future U.S.-UK trade agreement must incorporate strong provisions on worker rights, environmental protection, and enforcement to ensure bipartisan support, U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal said on Friday.
Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, said many important questions need to be resolved, and he expected to work closely with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in forging a new U.S.-UK trade deal after Britain’s exit from the European Union later on Friday.
He said the new trade deal also needed to preserve the freedom of Congress to regulate areas of domestic policy, and respect the achievement of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement between the British and Irish governments, and most of the political parties in Northern Ireland.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)