This month the UK has signed trade deals with India, the US and the European Union. At a time of worry about the prospects for world trade, this should be a reason for feeling less depressed about the outlook for Britain. But the deals, while better than none, might not merit even one cheer.
The deal with the US will merely limit the damage done by Donald Trump’s trade war, one that is particularly unjustified in the case of a loyal ally that does not even have a bilateral trade surplus in goods with his country. The other two are marginal liberalisations.
In all, the UK’s trade opportunities have been unambiguously worsened since Brexit and now Trump’s trade war, relative to…