Hi John,
It’s happening. Yesterday at Keir Starmer’s press conference with Donald Trump, the two leaders agreed to start talks on what the US president called a “great trade deal” which could be done “very quickly”.(1)
This trade deal might be great for the oligarchs that surround Trump, but it will be anything but great for the rest of us. It’s a threat, not only to the NHS, but to our ability to control and tax the Big Tech robber barons who have lined up behind the president.
Can you join our campaign to stop this toxic trade deal now?
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The British government clearly wants to portray this as a limited deal on technology and artificial intelligence. But that is bad enough. Because the Big Tech giants are desperately pursuing deals like this in order to cement their already enormous power in perpetuity.
Any tech trade deal would have huge consequences for public service like the NHS, for the fight against climate change, and for the government’s ability to tax and control the activities of Big Tech giants like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. It’s already been made clear that the US will not allow Britain to continue applying its digital services tax – a modest tax which goes some way towards tackling the notorious tax avoidance in the industry.
But the demands go much further. Any trade deal would attempt to guarantee Big Tech’s ability to use and abuse our personal data – including medical data gathered through the NHS. And it would try and lock in a low-regulation environment over new technologies like AI, which we’ve been told will play an increasing role in the provision of public services, making it impossible for the government to ensure those technologies work in the public interest.
AI development is at a critical juncture. This technology is highly energy and resource intensive. And it gives the biggest corporations in the world unprecedented ability to understand and manipulate our behaviour, subverting democratic decisions in their own interests. That’s why most of the world has said this technology must be carefully regulated. By following Trump down a different path, our government risks turning Britain into an experiment for the likes of Elon Musk.
The only way a trade deal can happen "very quickly" is if our government rolls over to Trump's demands. So we need to build up our campaign against it urgently.
Can you take the first step now and join the campaign to stop this toxic trade deal?
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But, despite what government ministers say, this will not just be a tech deal. Congress is rushing to pass legislation giving Trump the power to negotiate a very wide ranging “comprehensive free trade agreement”. That means everything in on the table. Big agricultural, pharmaceutical and healthcare interests will not allow this moment to pass without trying to change UK food standards or our approach to healthcare.
Keir Starmer clearly thinks he can prevent Trump levying tariffs on the British economy by engaging in these trade talks. But this simply gives Trump a weapon to repeatedly bully him with.
If we want to stop this trade deal we’ve got to make sure our movement is more powerful!
This won’t be easy. But we’ve beaten a trade deal with the US twice before. We can do it again. Be part of it.
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Thank you,
Nick Dearden
Director, Global Justice Now
Notes
1. UK-US trade deal could mean tariffs 'not necessary', says Trump, BBC News, 27 February 2025
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