CLA warns Chancellor not to 'sell out' British farming amid US trade talks
Rachel Reeves in Washington DC to discuss tariffs and trade with American officials
The CLA has warned the Chancellor not to 'sell out' British farming amid ongoing trade talks with US officials this week.
Rachel Reeves is in Washington DC for her first in-person meeting with her US counterpart, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, about striking a new trade agreement.
The UK government hopes the talks will take the sting out of President Donald Trump's tariffs, but the CLA has urged the Chancellor to stand up for British farmers in any deals or agreements.
In recent weeks the President's team has indicated the UK must allow produce such as US chlorine-washed chicken into UK markets if it wants relief from sweeping tariffs.
Victoria Vyvyan, President of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), said:
“Letting in cheap food that’s illegal to produce here isn’t trade – it’s betrayal. It undermines the very standards we ask our farmers to uphold, while piling pressure on businesses already struggling with rising costs and punitive taxes.
Right now, British farmers grow 65% of the food that feeds the 70 million people in this country – an incredible triumph of hard work and high standards. They need support, not trade deals that put livelihoods on the table
“If globalisation is dead, as Labour now claims, then British farming must live. But that means a government willing to back those that feed us, not sell them out."