Lisa Nandy has suggested that the UK should not have a trade deal with the USA after Brexit if Donald Trump refuses to fulfil his commitments to tackle the climate crisis.
The Labour leadership candidate spoke in critical terms of the US president’s “America First” stance, contrasting it strongly with her own internationalist vision for her party.
The US president’s opposition to internationalism has been echoed in his stance on the Paris climate accords, which he is currently in the process of exiting.
Former shadow energy secretary Nandy told the RSA that the UK should not sign a deal with any country that has not ratified the Paris Agreement.
Instead, she suggested Boris Johnson should use the key climate deal as a bargaining chip in brokering a trade treaty.
“As we look forward to forge new trading alliances across the world, we will need to make choices,” she said.
“We should be clear now that we would refuse to agree any trade deal with a country that has not ratified the Paris Agreement.
“We must use trade to support climate action, not hamper it.”
Returning to one of her favoured themes of towns, she said that Labour’s internationalist stance will fade into irrelevance if the party does not pay attention to the impact of climate change on towns worldwide.
“If we don’t make the link between what happens in Bolton and what happens in post-industrial towns across the world, we force internationalism into irrelevance,” she said.
She added: “Just as Democratic and Republican mayors stood up for the Paris Agreement and stood up to Trump, I will lead a team of local mayors and local leaders to lead the way on climate action and contribute to international action.”
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