The guy believes in bi-lateral deals. I actually think the UK will get a fair deal. I also believe he is hell bent on destroying the EU.
While tucking into my rather nice salmon from Norway this evening, I had a chat to Mme about chicken. Go into any major UK food store and you will find frozen chickens. Go into any major food store here and you will not find any. Fresh birds a plenty, but frozen ones, none. Most of the labels here will tell you where the birds lived, if they were totally free range, and what they were fed on. Which magazine published a chart 10 years ago showing just how much of the UK bird was meat and how much was injected water to increase the weight. Does it make a difference? Well as someone who has lived in both countries I can tell you it does when it comes down to flavour. Chicken here tastes like chicken did when my parents kept them, and from time to time we had one that was no longer laying. Not surprising when a frozen bird can actually be 25% water. Joe Bidon was Vice President of the USA while Obama was in charge, and he said that when the chicken farmers of Delaware found out that the trade deal between the USA and the EU was collapsing they were demanding that new outlets were found. "You don't mess with Delaware farmers" said Joe Bidon, but there is a problem in finding new markets. The unhygienic ways that these birds are raised creates that problem. After slaughter they are sprayed with disinfectant to kill off the problems that have risen because of the method of rearing. Branches of large chains such as McDonalds and KFC that operate here refuse to buy from the USA because of the bad production methods. Seeing as the UK will be desperate to strike a deal with anyone after Brexit expect USA birds to come in, and as they will be cheap to start with, the poorest will have to buy them. The decent farmers within the UK who produce chicken, will be forced to find a market for those who can afford food not contaminated by disinfectant, while the rest will have to make do with what they can afford. Instead of dumping cheap steel from China, expect dumping of cheap chickens from Delaware.
I wonder where the Delaware farmers get the idea that they are entitled to dump over-priced rubbish on people from? It is already a problem here I suspect - I've noticed that Tesco, for example, sell both fresh and frozen chicken meat pumped with salt water. It's not hard to spot when it's cooking - and nor when it's being eaten as it tastes foul rather than fowl. And don't start me on their bacon... We haven't exactly become vegetarians because of it, but now eat very little meat because of it. My oldest son gets upset in restaurants because they don't cook Quorn products, so it's hard to get him to go out for a meal.
To be fair to him, there may be an unfair financial burden on the US for the cost of the UN, I don't have any financial figures. He certainly has a case over NATO with many countries not contributing the agreed amount of 2%.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/us/politics/keystone-dakota-pipeline-trump.html The idiot has resurrected the Dakota Access Pipeline - didn't take him long. And the cynic in me suggests it may be to counter a lawsuit over this. http://www.sciencealert.com/that-thing-the-standing-rock-protesters-were-afraid-of-just-happened
I think the critical sentence there is this one: "We don't need infrastructure for profits, we need infrastructure for the people." Trump wants the pipeline for the billions it's worth to his mates. He doesn't give a **** about steelworkers.
I am not a fan of Donald Trump and even less so of Hillary Clinton, on that score I believe the US got the better option of two incredibly poor candidates. Understanding why Trump won is not difficult and it extends to Britain, with the Brexit vote, and will show itself in Europe in the next few elections there. Many people are fed up with being told how to act and think by the vociferous liberal social justice types, and see an opportunity to demonstrate this. As to trade deals with the US or any other nation. Even if we are forced somehow to accept produce we don't like as part of a deal vote with your wallet or purse, don't buy it. If it's chickens injected with water to bulk them up or that have been reared in poor conditions go somewhere that will sell you something fresh, and preferably local. You don't have to buy what the supermarkets want you to, and they will soon react when they are losing money on something.
His biggest mistake is likely to be with Mexico. They will not pay for his wall, the American tax payers will do this - it will not stop illegal immigration. If people are desparate enough they will go around it or over it. Its main function is symbolic - ie. to appease xenophobic elements in the USA. It also makes an 'enemy' of Mexico. Mexico has more free trade deals than any other country in the World, and they will be forced to expand these if relations to America deteriorate. There are many German firms active in Mexico, and the country also seems a prime candidate for Chinese investment. Maybe in the future we will see Americans climbing over the wall to get to Mexico.
