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How Brexit Became a Game of Chicken With the U.S.
The future of trade between the United States and the U.K. is in flux because the British think U.S. chicken is gross
The fate of the United Kingdom’s future trading relationship with the United States may rest on whether the British government is so desperate for a trade deal with a major power that it will accept chicken with small amounts of chlorine on its national menu.
For decades, a dispute over how chicken is treated before being sold has been a barrier preventing a comprehensive trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, and now it could be a sticking point with the United Kingdom as it looks to make its own trade deals once it manages to leave the European Union. The United States and the U.K. do $262 billion worth of trade a year, and the United States has a slight surplus. Besides agriculture, many U.S. industries could stand to benefit from such a deal, but so far, the focus has been squarely on chicken. “We’re not too keen on that chlorinated chicken,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Vice President Mike Pence at a press conference in London earlier this month, before transitioning into an awkward joke about his Labour opponent Jermey Corbyn: “We have a gigantic chlorinated chicken of our own here on the opposition bench.”
Later that evening, Pence described his talks with Johnson and their shared enthusiasm for a free trade deal as “a wonderful, massive opportunity for people on both sides of the Atlantic.” Quoting President Donald Trump, Pence said, “The minute the U.K. is out, America is in.” But, Pence added, “The Prime Minister made the point that some things are off the table, although I can see right now we’re going to have some pretty tough discussions over chlorinated chicken.”
There’s a reason the United States is pressing so hard for its favorite bird: it is the largest producer of chicken meat, selling 19.4 million tons or about $30 billion worth of broiler chickens — birds bred for meat — each year. It’s also the second-largest exporter of chicken meat (behind Brazil), but since 1997, chicken from the United States has been banned in the E.U., locking the country out of what the Congressional Research Service estimated is a market worth…
