Trump and Britain are a good match

With independence, and its celebration of America's defeat of Britain behind us, let us in 2018 embrace our former foe. President Trump's visit to the U.K. next week is a superb opportunity to strengthen our most natural alliance and bolster our shared interests in trade and common defense.

A U.S.-U.K. trade deal should be Trump's first order of business. Many people are frowning on Britain's wholly understandable decision to leave the European Union. Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, dismissively said that Brexit would send the U.K. to the "back of the queue," a line given to him by Her Majesty's Government as a way of discouraging the "leave" vote. Trump rightly sees it the other way around. A Britain free of the EU and its customs union barriers is one with which the U.S. should swiftly cut a trade deal.

Trump's argument against free trade, which we think deeply flawed, doesn't apply to the U.K. Great Britain has high wages, so reducing barriers doesn't risk the flight of American jobs. Britain is already a key trading partner, and a bilateral trade deal would enrich both nations.

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