Brexit ‘will bring huge benefits to US and UK’

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and British Prime MinIster Boris Johnson discussed strengthening bilateral ties following the UK’s departure from the European Union, including negotiating a free trade deal.
Pompeo’s office said in a statement yesterday the two had also discussed the importance of maintaining the integrity of communications networks, after Britain defied the US by granting Pompeo predicted that Brexit would bring “enormous benefits” to the US and the UK.
“There were things that the United Kingdom was required to do as part of being a member of the EU, and they’ll be able to do them differently now,” Washington’s top diplomat told a think-tank audience in London earlier.
“Some of this will be worked out through the free trade agreement, some of it will be worked out by entrepreneurs just kicking it,” he said, alongside British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
“You will see the enormous benefits that accrued to both of our nations as a result of this.”
Although Britain will remain under most EU rules during an 11-month transition period, it is then likely to lose privileged access to the single European market — the world’s largest and most important for UK trade.
Johnson has argued he can negotiate ambitious free trade agreements with both his 27 former partners and the US, but has seen recent strains in the so-called “special relationship” with Washington.
Britain has been angered by American refusal to extradite the wife of a US diplomat who is using the cover of diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution over the death of a teenager in a road accident in England.
Johnson’s hopes for a US trade deal are also complicated by Trump’s unpopularity in Britain and domestic pressure to stand up to Washington.
Pompeo was in London on the first leg of a five-nation tour that also takes in Ukraine.
Britons narrowly backed departing the EU in a 2016 referendum that left the country locked in political crisis and acrimonious division.
Johnson, who headed the pro-Leave campaign, won a thumping election victory in December on the mantra “get Brexit done”. That is now finally happening, with Britain’s departure set in European law Wednesday, amid emotional scenes, as the bloc’s parliament voted to ratify the divorce papers.
“We will always love you and we will never be far,” said EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, adding: “Long live Europe.”
Britain’s eurosceptic lawmakers were in triumphant mood after two decades as a thorn in Brussels’ side, brandishing British flags in contravention of the chamber’s rules.