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Something President Donald Trump鈥檚 critics never seem to understand is that he understands negotiations. He has spent the last 40 years negotiating deals both small and big. He likes to come out swinging, assess how his opponent reacts, then adjust his plan so that he gets the most of what he wants.
This is why those of us who have followed the president for so long 鈥 and read the Scott Adams book Win Bigly, which you should too if you haven鈥檛 already 鈥 didn鈥檛 throw a tantrum over his tariffs. We all knew that the tariffs were a tactic and not an end goal. They were yet another instance of President Trump demonstrating that he truly understands (ahem) The Art of the Deal.
This is how the president reached the recently announced historic deal with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reduce or eliminate most non-tariff barriers between our two countries. At the time the focus was mainly on agricultural benefits 鈥 with estimates of at least $5 billion in ag trade 鈥 with the president saying the deal is 鈥渄ramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol, and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers.鈥
Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have tried to tear down the deal, insisting that its health care provisions could cause patients could lose access to life-saving drugs. However, as we鈥檝e had to time to get more into the details of the deal, it appears the even bigger win will be for UK pharmaceutical companies and their patients.
Indeed, 鈥淣HS patients have been given new hope of accessing wonder drugs previously blocked in Britain as Donald Trump pressures the health service to spend more with US suppliers,鈥 as The Telegraph recently reported. As part of the deal, the Trump administration insisted that the UK needed to be more welcoming of imports from U.S. pharmaceutical companies.
Under this new trade agreement, the UK government agreed to review the rules that dictate which drugs can be bought by the National Health Service (NHS), Great Britain鈥檚 department for socialized medicine. And those imports can鈥檛 come soon enough.
The NHS isn鈥檛 just broken, it鈥檚 broke, with British patients forced to ration their own pharmaceuticals because the government can鈥檛 afford to provide them with enough. And despite the fact that the UK government spends more on just disability than it does on national defense, their cancer survival rates are among the worst in the world.
And while acolytes of socialized medicine cluck their tongues at the American health care system, the waiting lines in Britain are so long they鈥檙e killing people. As The Hill reported, 鈥8 million people in the United Kingdom are waiting for their care, with 40 percent waiting for more than 18 weeks. An incredible 14,000 people died just last year while waiting for care in England鈥檚 emergency rooms.鈥
This trade deal won鈥檛 fix all the problems with the NHS 鈥 and socialized medicine 鈥 and the United Kingdom, but it will help a lot. The critics are wrong about the president鈥檚 UK trade deal, just like they鈥檝e been wrong about everything about Trump since 2015.