BREXIT BLUES

U.K. Ambassador: Trump Will Hike Prices for Britain’s National Health Service

The outgoing ambassador made his warning hours before Britain is due to officially depart the European Union.

The outgoing British ambassador to Washington has warned that the Trump administration will demand that Britain’s universal health-care system, known as the National Health Service, pay higher prices for American drugs in a free-trade deal after Brexit. Kim Darroch, who announced his resignation in July after confidential cables of him disparaging President Donald Trump were leaked, told The Guardian that it was doubtful whether the U.K. had the resources for parallel negotiations with the U.S. and the European Union despite Downing Street insisting they were in good shape for future negotiations. The U.K. will officially leave the EU on Friday evening, marking a period of 11 months in which negotiations must be hammered out. Darroch said: “[The U.S.] want us to pay the same for American pharmaceuticals as they pay in their own market. Do they want us to pay more for their pharmaceuticals? Do the pharmaceutical companies want to use this leverage? Of course they do.”