Stuart Nathan
Features editor
Donald Trump can only affect UK engineering and manufacturing in certain ways. Whatever our views on the man himself, we should keep things in perspective

Today’s news headlines are, of course, dominated by the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States, and Trumpophobes should probably be prepared to limit their news intake, because he’s probably going to dominate every news site, paper and broadcast for the next few weeks at the very least.
Such is the opprobrium that has surrounded Trump’s campaign, election and every tweet that the tycoon-turned-reality-star-turned-politician has issued over the past year, it’s easy to get carried away with what his ascension to high office might mean. Some perspective is clearly called for.
The United States is the world’s largest economy, and as such has a disproportionate effect on the rest of the world. But that effect is, in fact, limited to a few key areas. As far as the UK is concerned, US politics affects us in two particular ways.
The first is trade, and in this case we are likely to be more affected by the shakeout from Brexit than from the incoming occupant of the Oval Office. We don’t know whether we can take Trump’s comments on this at face value; Boris Johnson, for example, insists that Trump said the UK would be at the front of the queue for a new trade deal, but he seems to have said nothing of the sort in his recent interview with Michael Gove published in The Times. In truth, it’s unlikely to be up to him to a great extent; the negotiations will be carried out by the State Department and the industry secretary, although the president can of course influence the direction of the negotiations.
If Trump is as much of an Anglophile as British supporters claim, his presidency could in fact be good news for British manufacturing. On the more worrying side, the billionaire investor George Soros (who, to be frank, knows as much as anybody) told the Davos world economic forum this week that he believes Trump is gearing up for a trade war with China, which could have detrimental effects for the whole world economy.
The other main area where US politics impacts the UK is defence, and here there might be cause for concern. Trump’s comments about NATO on the campaign trail are worrying for the alliance, and could conceivably have an effect on UK defence policy and therefore on purchasing of equipment. Since the election, Trump has also made disparaging remarks about the F 35 Lightning II fighter, parts of which are manufactured by BAE Systems in the UK, and any changes to this project could have serious effects.
Many of Trump’s other stated policies and the profiles of his advisers might cause concern in the UK; any slackening in US policy on environmental matters concerning control of greenhouse gases would certainly dismay some and the environment, of course, affects everybody. But in terms of day-to-day matters affecting Britons and companies in the engineering and manufacturing sectors, the biggest factor at the moment is not Trump’s long-term policies, but the short-term uncertainty which the election of this unprecedented figure is causing. Like the rest of the world, we can’t make any judgements until he’s actually in office and his staff and team begin to run the country.
There’s a lot to celebrate about the Trump victory: Obama / Clinton ruined the middle-east through their regime change policies and would have carried-on in the same vein. They were also totally pro-EU and said we would be at the back of the queue,: Trump is pro-UK and anti EU by nature.
Most important for UK ltd, the carbon lobby, that has dominated the last few years, is likely to vanish into the sunset.
Reasons to be cheerful, one, two, three!
Well said! Couldn’t agree more.
Jack,
An interesting comment about Obama/Clinton, but I noted you omitted Bush. I hope this was purely an oversight.
If you are sourcing the NY Times for facts, you have my sympathies. If you don’t want the trade deal, that is OK, we need you less than you need us.
The mention of The Times referred to the paper sometimes known overseas as The Times of London, not the NY Times. There’s no trade deal on the table at the moment, just talk of one.
Totally irresponsible to undermine the climate change negotiations and what came from that. Some of us care about the planet and the long term effects on our grand-kids!
I would welcome fair trade deals with the US but will not accept that we ought to go back to the bad old days of sticking our heads in the ground when it comes to global warming. Nearly every scientist agrees that the planet is warming and that more extreme weather is in part due to human activity!
As engineers and manufacturers we have a moral plus – I would argue – legal obligation to do all in our power to improve things …
There’s a huge clue in the above article “….. tycoon-turned-REALITY-STAR-turned-politician!” I refuse to watch reality TV,it is more exciting watching paint dry,so I turn off the animated wallpaper occasionally & find something else to do.This means that on the occasion I watch a news broadcast,I get to hear umpteen opinions (all differing) on Trump’s love of tweeting provocative statements as he is in reality star mode & trolls the worlds media.When he discovers that people can simply sit by & wait for the politician to act like they’re supposed to,he’ll have to actually try & do something he’s tweeted he intends doing once he’s president.This will involve protracted discussions with others,& if he can’t get his own way…..does he relinquish his presidency or chuck his toys out his pram & run home to Trump Towers.I’ve never had a country to run,so I’m unable to decide whether a country can be run like a business(something Trump knows how to)or has it to be run like a vast humane help group.