Trade deal with US ‘totally up in air’ after Chequers Brexit talks

But Theresa May’s offer to Brussels to share a “common rulebook” on goods and form a new UK-EU free trade area has caused uncertainty over the deal that can be struck with Washington, diplomat Woody Johnson suggested.

He told Anna Foster on BBC Radio 5 live: “The president has stated very clearly that a bilateral with the US is something that he’s in favour of.

“He also respects sovereignty. He’s talked about sovereignty. He’s looking at it in our country as well. So I think the bilateral will be an important discussion that he’ll have with the Prime Minister.”

He added: “I think that there was a briefing that came out, as I understand it. It was very short, a couple of pages.

“This is a lot more complicated than a couple of pages. I would say that the bilateral agreement, whether we have one or not, is totally up in the air at this point.”

Mr Johnson said he “absolutely” believed that a trade deal could be struck.

“From the US standpoint, yes, we’d love to do a bilat, and the president said he’d like to do it quickly, and all hands on deck – so we’ll get it done.”

President Trump arrives in the UK on Thursday for a visit that will keep him largely away from London.

Mr Johnson said: “It’s important just that he be here as well. I think that’s going to be very symbolic.”

Labour MP Virendra Sharma, a champion for the anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain, said “The Tory Party’s Brexit extremists have lost it on this one.

“They want to scupper our most lucrative trade deals – those with the EU – in order to suit Trump’s every wish and whim in a trade deal worth peanuts by comparison. “Such bad maths and a prime minister with no compass sum up how divided the Tories are on Brexit.”