Britain is not capitalising on Brexit and choosing 'Brussels over America', says Trump's top trade official

Donald Trump's top trade official has warned the UK that it is not capitalising on Brexit and is choosing 'Brussels over America'.Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, has accused the UK of failing to take advantage of Brexit by aligning with EU rules, and closing its market to US goods. He told the FT: 'That’s how we interpret it... based on my conversations with the UK, where I say, "Hey, you’re free of the EU. Why don’t you liberalise a little bit, accept goods made to American standards, accept agricultural goods made to American standards?"'And they say, "Well, we have to wait and see what the EU says about it." You know that is a problem for us and that’s challenging.'Asked whether the UK was using Brexit to its advantage, he bluntly replied: 'No, they're not.'Six years after the UK formally left the European Union, both sides have been pushing for a deeper relationship with each other. All the while, Trump has been rattling longstanding allies by threatening to impose harsh tariffs on the EU, seize the Danish territory of Greenland and curb America's support for Nato. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled his intent to get closer to the EU, telling parliament on Wednesday that Brexit has hurt the UK. Donald Trump announcing his initial round of tariffs at the White House in April last yearAt a London meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, he promised to work on the 'UK’s drive to get closer to Europe'.Mr Burnham has promised to sign a deal that would remove border checks on UK food and drink exports to the EU, as part of the UK's 'reset' with the continent. These rules require Britain to comply with strict EU food standards that the US has long seen as protectionist and against their interests. Many US products, including chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-raised beef, cannot be sold in the UK, meaning that Mr Burnham's deal would effectively block the UK from importing American food items. On top of this, the UK has also pushed back on US demands that the government recognise American industrial goods standards. Despite these problems, Mr Greer said he has a 'good relationship' with UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and that an early trade deal between Washington and London was 'beneficial to both sides' and a 'good early harvest'.But he said that the main 'sticking points' in talks between the two Western nations were over agricultural and farm goods. He said: 'The UK has had free access into the US agricultural market, where we’ve had very limited access on the US side into the UK agricultural market.' Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, (pictured, centre) has accused the UK of failing to take advantage of Brexit by aligning with EU rulesLast week, sources told the Mail that Canada is looking to expand its trade links with Britain as its latest trade war with the US pushes it to other allies and wean itself off its southern neighbour. ‘I think if you asked anyone in the government, they would all say they are very supportive of this CANZUK idea,’ one source said, adding the UK and Canada had a ‘historic opportunity’ to bolster trade ties, saying both had become ‘estranged’ from their largest trading partners, the US and EU respectively.While the change of Prime Minister and cabinet reshuffle had made trade discussions ‘difficult’, Canadian diplomatic sources were upbeat, saying: ‘Burnham’s government is relatively new and finding its feet, but in preliminary discussions we’re sensing a real openness and desire to move on that.’Britain is Canada’s third-largest trading partner but talks to ramp up that co-operation have taken on fresh urgency after Donald Trump announced a fresh wave of tariffs on the country after a previous spate of levies last year.