Should the UK government be depending on overseas partners?
Ever since Barack Obama came to power in the US there has been a feeling that Gordon Brown was looking to hang on to his coat tails and ensure the UK economy would benefit from any move in the US. However, Gordon Brown was somewhat caught off guard when Barack Obama inserted a number of "buy American" clauses in the various rescue packages. This is effectively a strong form of protectionism which should ensure that US workers and US companies are first in the queue for any new projects.
Slowly but surely the US, and many European counterparts, are now looking out for their own workforce and their own economies to the detriment of trading partners. The move by the US has the potential to leave the UK "high and dry" as Gordon Brown has come in for severe criticism and under severe pressure from his European counterparts. As we have seen in recent times, Gordon Brown does not handle criticism too well and this would appear to have distanced him from his European comrades.
There would now appear little alternative but for the UK government to give in to the protectionism argument in due course although they appear set to battle to the very end. In simple terms, the UK population is crying out for protection against cheap foreign workers who have been employed on many new projects, often to the detriment of the local UK workforce.
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