Dear John,

On Monday, Donald Trump will be sworn in again as President of the United States.

In his first term, Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Human Rights Council. He has praised Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius”, and said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies. He’s even refused to rule out invading a NATO ally himself.

And he’s threatening to plunge the world into a trade war. He proudly calls himself “tariff man”.

So let’s not kid ourselves. The incoming Trump Administration is a threat to peace and prosperity in the UK, across Europe, and around the world.

For the next four years, the UK cannot depend on the President of the United States to be a reliable partner on security, defence or the economy.

So how do we deal with Donald Trump? We need to do it from a position of strength.

And that means urgently strengthening our relationships with the UK’s other partners – most importantly our European neighbours, whose economic and security interests are so closely intertwined with ours.

That is why, today, I am calling on the Government to negotiate this year a brand-new deal with the EU.

Not just tinkering around the edges of the Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal, but agreeing a better deal for Britain. A deal to form a new UK-EU Customs Union by 2030 at the latest.

This will help to deliver on the roadmap we have already set out to fix our broken relationship – renewing the ties of trust and friendship so that we can apply to join the Single Market when the time is right and one day get the UK back in the heart of Europe.

But an agreement to work towards a Customs Union will also unlock big benefits now. We can start tearing down the Conservatives’ damaging trade barriers this year. Ripping up the expensive red tape that is holding back British firms from selling into Europe, costing our economy billions in lost exports.

That is how we can protect our economy from whatever Trump decides to do. It’s how we can deal with him from a position of strength, not weakness. And – most importantly – it’s how we can turbocharge our economy in the medium and long term.