Digby uses trade mission to attack US

This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday February 17 2008 on p1 of the Business news & features section. It was last updated at 00:10 on February 17 2008.

Digby Jones, Britain's trade and investment minister, has accused the US of being a protectionist economy and spoken of his fears that a new President will lead the country into 'another bout of isolationism'.
On a UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) mission to the US last week, Lord Jones of Birmingham also told business leaders there that using tariffs and subsidies to try to protect the economy was 'pathetic'.
'Please don't listen to the siren voices of protectionism, it does not become you,' he told an audience of entrepreneurs and executives in Boston, Massachusetts.
In an exclusive interview with The Observer, Jones also said the US was still struggling to cope with the impact of globalisation on its economy. He said the US was not 'at ease with itself'.
'Ten years ago they genuinely thought globalisation was Americanisation - that it was all about basketball, McDonald's and Coca-Cola all around the world,' he said. 'It's perfectly obvious this isn't the case. America is having a problem accepting it. Do I think Americans have grasped it's a different century? I'm not sure they have.'
While many British business leaders and politicians will privately agree with the criticism, such an outspoken public attack from a high-ranking minister risks deepening tensions with the US.
Since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, he has distanced the country from the 'special relationship' with the US that was cultivated by Tony Blair.
Jones also warned the US that restricting who comes to study and work in the country will damage the economy, and benefit more open economies, such as Britain's, in the long run.
Jones is concerned that any one of the three remaining likely presidential candidates - Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain - will make the US pull up the trade drawbridge.
'The protectionist vibes I'm hearing from all the candidates do worry me,' he says. 'All three candidates are saying things that concern a free trader like me. All are talking about protecting the current status quo in jobs. That's not what a globally engaged and restructured US is going to be.' He added: 'I hope they don't enter into one of their bouts of isolationism.'
Despite the criticism, Jones stressed that Britain was a friend of the US and wants to find more ways for the two countries to work together in business. The UK is the largest single destination for US investment globally, accounting on its own for almost a third of total US investment in the European Union.
But America was still grappling with how to respond to globalisation, he said. 'They are aware that the world out there has changed and has got choices it never had and their influence is still enormous but different. They are not that much at ease with themselves at the moment.'
Earlier this month Prince Andrew, who is the UK's special representative for UKTI, criticised the US for not seeking advice on how to deal with postwar Iraq from the UK, which he said had some experience of running a successful empire. The prince was on the same trade mission to the US as Jones - who is also chairman of UKTI - last week.