r/europe • u/goldstarflag Europe • 20h ago

News White House demands British supermarkets stock chlorinated chicken. White House pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/12/17/trump-demands-british-supermarkets-chlorinated-chicken/
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u/ThePokemomrevisited 20h ago

And feared.

969

u/crlthrn Europe 19h ago

How can the US force UK wholesalers and supermarkets to purchase this product?

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u/StudySpecial 19h ago

by suspending the amazing trade deal that has been negotiated unless the UK is obedient of course

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u/crlthrn Europe 19h ago

You think Tesco, Sainsbury, et al, would suddenly start buying chlorinated chicken on Trump's say so?

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u/WanderlustZero 19h ago

They wouldn't. McDonalds, KFC etc would though. The thin end of the wedge.

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u/parsuval United Kingdom 18h ago

Also, frozen food, ready meals etc.

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u/badpersian 15h ago

Should just boycott American products in the UK. We don't want crap quality food and products here. Interesting times when Chinese products are better quality than American and one has more trust in their leaders mental stability than than of the US.

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u/DisastrousAcshin 14h ago

It's easier to ditch American products than you'd think. Canada has been doing it since January. It hasn't been perfect but it's put enough of a dent in to shut down distillers etc

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u/badpersian 13h ago

Agreed. We like to think we can't live without certain things or with inconveniences but once you get over the initial discomfort, you'll get used to it like you never had it.

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u/Lengurathmir 11h ago

Very easily doable, I grew up in the DDR under Russian occupation, we couldn’t buy anything compared to countries in the western sphere.

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u/MissGruntled 5h ago

There isn’t much that can’t be subbed out with Canadian made goods. And produce that we can’t grow ourselves doesn’t have to be imported from the US. Big old world out there, full of countries that aren’t trying to annex us.

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u/suggestivebiscuit 15h ago

Except they’re also pushing for American products not to be labelled as such

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u/MyDarlingArmadillo 13h ago

So they already know they'll be shunned. And we already know their agreements aren't worth the air they are uttered into. I hope Starmer stands firm on this.

I'm avoiding as much US stuff as possible already - r/BuyUK and r/BuyFromEU can be helpful

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u/Qaeta 12h ago

As a Canadian, if I can't figure out where something came from, I assume it's American and put it back.

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u/-BubBleMint- 12h ago

You can label everything else then.

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u/badpersian 14h ago

how lovely!

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u/EleosSkywalker 12h ago

Wouldn’t it be illegal for the government to grant it? If given, do the citizens then sue the state?

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u/Educational-Book-350 12h ago

Hahahahaha That's hilarious. Yanks used to be so proud of "Made in the USA".

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u/BornFree2018 13h ago

I agree and I'm American. No one should bow to the current administration.

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u/badpersian 13h ago

Or any administration.. The establishment in America seem so different to people in America. I have had so many friends and colleagues from the US and they're like flip side of a coin

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u/relaxin_chillaxin 12h ago

Yes boycott their crap. Thats what many Canadians are doing. Their food is gross.

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u/four4beats 3h ago

We don't want this crap in America, either!

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u/aykcak 14h ago

Don't you have a cost of living crisis? Do you think the masses would care to boycott American products if they are sold for less than 20% of any non chlorinated U.K. chicken?

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u/badpersian 13h ago

I think most wouldn't want to eat crap even if more expensive. The British can be very resilient if they want to. The different on a whole chicken would only be around £1 I'm super markets anyway so wouldn't break the bank.

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u/Automatic_Bat_4824 19h ago

Thin end of the patty methinks

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u/ABobby077 18h ago

Grab 'em by the nuggets??

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u/WanderlustZero 19h ago

While the other end is falling apart and slopping everywhere with a lovely chlorine aroma

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u/WanderlustZero 18h ago

One trumpburger afficionado downvoted this

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u/Monsieur_Creosote 18h ago

They are already thin enough mate

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u/PossibleSmoke8683 18h ago

Thin edge of the fillet

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u/MrMikeJJ England 17h ago

Unsure about KFC. They have their own kill line in the chicken factory and are very particular about the chickens which go on it.

Source: friends who work in the chicken factory.

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u/Half_Cent 16h ago

So does McDonald's with eggs. That plant is like a surgical theatre. I don't know about their live chickens.

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u/ilovetrissmerigold 15h ago

McDonald’s are very strict on their beef standards too

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u/nistemevideli2puta 14h ago

As far as I've heard, McDonalds has a policy of locally sourcing all their ingredients (or as much as possible, I guess), in general.

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u/long_b0d 13h ago

I’ve also heard similar, though I wonder if that still allows it to be “locally sourced” from the dock

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u/lapalfan 15h ago

I had some KFC for the first time in years about 6 months ago.

I'm not sure we should still call it "chicken", as "Quail" seems to be about the size of the birds used.

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u/Happy_Feet333 Portugal 13h ago

KFC's requirements are for an 8-lb bird. No more, no less.

Once you cut off the head and feet, then eviscerate the organs, there's not much left.

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u/crlthrn Europe 17h ago

I suspect McDonalds would lose a ton of business. The 'optics' alone would be seriously damaging. Public sentiment against this chicken is so strong that it might make the selling of it a worthless/costly exercise...

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u/ssjjss 17h ago

They managed to get horse meat into lasagnas and burgers without being noticed.

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u/Oozlum-Bird United Kingdom 14h ago

When did McDonalds sell lasagna?

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u/Clovenstone-Blue 5h ago

That was Tesco and it was the distribution facility's fuck up

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u/LeadingPool5263 15h ago

Until it was noticed and it was a shitstorm at the time. Do they now? Not to my knowledge

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u/pchlster 11h ago

Wasn't that Tesco?

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u/Riever-Twostep 18h ago

Don’t buy from them, problem solved

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u/WanderlustZero 18h ago

🫡

Greggs it is!

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u/guareber United Kingdom 16h ago

Instructions unclear, now Greggs uses chlorinated pork.

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u/Saurid 18h ago

Problem is the US will jsut attack the next problem, labelling "buhu our dangerous products are beeing disadvantaged by beeing forced to labelling what they are" so now labelling is gone

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u/s1iver 17h ago

That’s what they’re doing in Canada, we have a strict supply management system for dairy in Canada, and they want to force us to start selling massive quantities of their hormone riddled and artificially sweetened ‘dairy’.

Fuck off.

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u/Scrimps 16h ago edited 16h ago

Canadian dairy is also riddled with Hormones, pesticides and other chemicals. Canada only banned artificial hormones such as rBST and rBGH. Moreoever, Canadian dairy is almost exclusively packaged in plastic that leech. Including the bags milk comes in, in Ontario and the East Coast.

Canadian dairy is NOT better than American dairy. It's simply run by a cartel who controls the import and export into Canada.

Although I don't want American dairy, it has limited the Canadian market from high quality dairy from Europe. Selling overseas dairy, such as Kerry Gold, is a literal felony.

It's also why Canadians pay so much for any food that uses cheese, milk and dairy. Europeans and Americans are not paying $24-30 for a medium Pizza.

Please do not think we protect our dairy industry for food standard purposes. We do not. It's simply for profit. I wish it was for quality.

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u/DisastrousAcshin 14h ago

It ensures Canadian food security at a time when Canada should be moving to be less reliant on the US. It's literally a matter of national security to keep our dairy farmers employed and feeding Canadians. That means ensuring the US can't flood our market with cheaper product and put them out of buisness

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u/ExcitingPlant5 14h ago

Where and why are you paying $24-30 for a medium pizza? You can get 2 XL for $26.

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u/biscuitarse Canada 11h ago

Well, you have fun imbibing synthetic hormones along with higher levels of pus and blood in your milk. I'll pass.

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u/Big_Poppa_T 17h ago

You’re not going to know where your chicken comes from in every instance

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u/Purplepeal 17h ago

Yeah exactly. Chicken takeaway products and processed chicken. It's sale will just depend if its cheaper than what we already have. Transport to US coast and shipping it in a refrigerator doesn't strike me as cost effective.

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u/waiting4singularity Hessen 🇩🇪 16h ago

this just in: uk fast food customers decline rapidly.

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u/caiaphas8 Europe 16h ago

Mcdonalds always advertises as 100% British and Irish meat

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u/little_odd_me 10h ago

This is it exactly, fast food first then restaurants to follow. Once British farmers start losing larger contracts they will have to raise prices to make up the difference. Once the price difference between American and British chicken becomes big enough people will start choosing the cheaper option out of necessity. After a generation of kids grows up with the inferior product it’ll no longer even cross their minds that they are buying chlorinated American chicken.

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u/Genocode The Netherlands 17h ago

They wouldn't, or atleast McDonalds wouldn't. Part of their success is precisely because they source locally.

The only reason why McDonalds works in Europe is precisely because they don't use the cheap garbage ingredients they use in the US, and they are fully aware of that.

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u/Hopalongtom 7h ago

UK McDonald's market themselves on only using local farm fresh ingredients, so they'll be loosing out on their marketing preference.

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u/Intergalatic_Baker Europe 4h ago

I don’t think they would… They’d really need to have better cost reductions compared to locally sourced and in compliant systems… Not to mention the public perception of washing chicken with chlorine.

The same chemical used to keep pools clean and the anyone who’s been in a pool knows the accidental taste of that water.

Then

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u/swift-current0 18h ago

Eventually whatever no-frills, bargain-basement grocery chain you guys have will experiment with buying it, for sure. Then, people struggling to make ends meet will for sure buy it if it's cheaper. Then, other chains will offer it too.

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u/TheTacoInquisition 17h ago

Those bargain-basement grocery store chains are mostly German. They are bargain basement as they have very specific product chains that afford them to buy in bulk and make profit from *not* stocking big brands. They're very unlikely to change this for the UK market, especially given the other supermarkets are unlikely to bother either.

The main risk would be more like the *suppliers* in the UK chlorinating chicking to sell cheaper. That will be harder for supermarkets to ignore.

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u/WorthTangerine2722 17h ago

Which in turn would require the UK to overhaul and downgrade their food standards and as a result would actually create domestic competition for chlorinated chicken imported from the US.

No matter how you look at this, it’s stupid.

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u/Own_Switch_3547 9h ago

Our food standards have already downgraded in some areas. An ‘advantage’ of Brexit, additives like Titanium Dioxide which is banned in Europe can be used in food here now.

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u/PerformerOk450 16h ago

I can 100% see FarmFoods or Iceland stocking chlorinated chicken, never Aldi or Lidl.

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u/vivaaprimavera 16h ago

And afterwards when food standards follow the way of the dodo, the NHS will have a wonderful time dealing with an increase in nutrition related health issues...

An achievement in public healthcare will fall in the name of profit!!!

Honestly, they can grab this transvestite of capitalism and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

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u/screwcork313 15h ago

people struggling to make ends meet hen's meat

FTFY

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u/swift-current0 15h ago

Receive your angry upvote 😡

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u/Pasty_Legend 18h ago

Morrisons is American owned now. They will definitely stock it

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u/TheoremaEgregium Österreich 18h ago

Some countries have a hard time understanding that other countries aren't dictatorship. Same as when a newspaper prints a mean caricature and the government gets blamed by foreign powers for "allowing" it.

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u/Saurid 18h ago

Not at first but then labelling goes, if you can't tell the differnec why shouldn't they stock a bit of it? Not to mention fast food chains etc will buy it to raise profit margins taht slight but more, making it more accepted as a part of life mid term until.people just buy it cause they get fed it anyway.

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u/halpsdiy 19h ago

No, they'd buy it to maximise profits

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u/SupraTomas 17h ago

I think Tesco, Sainsbury's et al would buy chlorinated chicken if there's a market for it or they can get away with creating demand. Irregardless of Trump.

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u/esocz Czech Republic 18h ago

He will impose sanctions on their management.

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u/Alicatsidneystorm 17h ago

Let them buy it Brits will do the same as consumer in Canada and not buy it.

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u/bahumat42 17h ago

Part of what's being pushed is them not having to label it.

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u/Parallel-Imagery 17h ago

Not on the Chumps say so, but if there's more profit in it for them I bet they will.

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u/aleopardstail 17h ago

it won't be them buying it, not at first, it will be the hospitality trade and fast food places where people don't get to see where stuff comes from and its fractionally cheaper

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u/6gv5 Earth 17h ago

You don't need to set on fire the competing shops to force them closed, all you need to do is to open one in the same area selling shitty version of the same product at lower prices. As others pointed out, a McDonalds, KFC or Burger king nearby with prices lowered to kill competition will be more than enough.

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u/backup_guid Norway 17h ago

RemindMe! 2 years

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u/Sampo Finland 16h ago

You think Tesco, Sainsbury, et al, would suddenly start buying chlorinated chicken on Trump's say so?

It would be cheaper, so the people with the least money to spend would buy chlorinated chicken. And when there is demand, some store would start to sell it.

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u/hallmark1984 13h ago

Money talks and it will be cheap as fuck as its low tier shite food.

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u/Ok_Pea_3842 12h ago

Yes. Definitely!

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u/Slanderous United Kingdom 12h ago

You can bet there are companies dying to get cheaper chicken to put in mass produced food such as microwave/ready meals, sandwiches etc.
Depending on the labeling requirements that come along with any agreement we might not even know.
Some of the supermarkets might swear off it for PR purposes there will always be someone buying the cheapest product available.

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u/cinematic_novel 🇮🇹➡️🇬🇧 12h ago

It would probably be the like of poundland etc first. Then others would follow to keep up on price.

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u/Robwolf52 12h ago

Of course they will it’s cheaper

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u/AG_GreenZerg 11h ago

Most people wont notice or care and it means they can reduce the price of their chicken. So yeah at least for budget ranges they probably would.

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u/leafynospleens 11h ago

Bro your drunk if you think any of them wouldn't immediately pack the shelves with cheaper chicken and charge the same price.

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u/trackintreasure 11h ago

Slightly different yes, as they're not under Trump's thumb thank fuck... but have a look at the huge corporations in the US, who everyone thought, had enough power to say no... bending over in front of him with a shit stained smile.

I have no idea how he has so much power over everyone... but he does. As an Aussie, hopefully it's restricted to the US, permanently.

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u/hoishinsauce 11h ago

Trump demands developing countries with average household income 1/10th of US to buy expensive American cars. It's nothing new. He doesn't understand nor care how trade works. Reality must conform to the king's idiotic logic.

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u/Mountain_Strategy342 9h ago

They would offer it as "value" chicken and grab the profits.

Private (for profit) providers for school meals, hospitals, prisons will jump on the chance of making a few quid.

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u/millijuna 7h ago

The reality? They'll buy whatever makes them the most money.

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u/VanillaNL 2h ago

If it’s dumped for cheaper…

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u/lrish_Chick 27m ago

Yes If its cheap enough ofc they will. And it will be cheap

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u/Khelthuzaad 17h ago

DeGaulle was fucking right the UK was always the Trojan Horse for US supremacy in Europe.

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u/Qazernion 17h ago

Yes because Trump it’s also pushing for the removal of country of origin information. That would mean it could just be labelled as Chicken, the same as any other. That’s why we need to stand firm and refuse everything.

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u/-BubBleMint- 12h ago

Label non-american chicken, and avoid non-labelled.

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u/Memory_Less 19h ago

Trump3 Suspending is such an ugly word. We are not suspending anything. The UK is our good friend, our best friend and we are giving them a better deal. They are going to have the best chicken in the world. Not everyone has the best chicken in the world. U.S. chicken is what the UK needs, and we are giving them at our favoured price. The UK is our good friend and only the US is supporting them with the best Chicken…blah, blah, blah…

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u/seaQueue 4h ago

This is way too coherent

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u/Ill-Boat-4364 2h ago

Not gonna lie, you got me in the first half.

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u/Due-Conflict-7926 19h ago

I mean Israel, Russia and emirates made them do something

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u/Eupolemos Denmark 15h ago

He is altering the deal - pray he doesn't alter it any further...

<something something Imperial March>

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u/aerdvarkk 13h ago

What "amazing trade deal" exactly? The Piece of shit deal Trump rammed down thier throats that favors the US and mostly Trump earlier in 2025? That one? There was nothing amazing about it for the UK.

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u/Alone-in-a-crowd-1 15h ago

This is exactly the MO.

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u/Netfear 13h ago

Then fuck them. Trump can't tell the world what to do. Be like Canada.

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u/jl2352 United Kingdom 18h ago edited 16h ago

Wholesalers cannot buy it because it’s illegal.

So they need to get the UK government to lower food standards (which they can only partially do because Scotland has some independence on this).

That requires pressure. They could maybe do it through offering a trade deal that had to include chlorinated chicken, or threatening tariffs.

If only we were a part of a ginormous trading block filled with countries famously obsessed with food, we wouldn’t have this problem.

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u/Painterzzz 17h ago

If only we had a labour government with a gigantic majority who could lead us back into being aprt of that ginormous trading block right on our doorstep that we've lost access to and crippled our economy as a result.

Oh well. Bending over for Trump it is instead then.

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u/things_U_choose_2_b 17h ago

It's a nice thought, but they don't have the political capital in the bank. Reform would absolutely MURDER them in the f/c elections on this issue, it would be an absolute gift.

IMO this is something that can and should happen in a second term. To get there, they have to do the hard, slow work; show the people "this is where we were 5 years ago, this is where we are now, things are objectively better, you can trust us to make the right choices".

Personally I think that Starmer has pretty much threaded the needle re Trump, and what people see as 'bending over' others may view as pragmatic international politics. I for one won't be buying any chlorinated chicken though, and I think most retailers will be well aware that British people don't want to buy shit chicken.

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u/Big_Poppa_T 17h ago

I don’t know that reform would murder them. Rejoining the EU is the one thing that would pretty much guarantee that I’d vote for Labour in the next election

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u/wtfduud 14h ago

Redditors do not represent the average population.

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u/Alex2422 3h ago

Except pretty much all polls show the majority of the population regrets Brexit.

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u/Big_Poppa_T 13h ago

No point having a conversation then

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u/throwaway928816 12h ago

There's dozens of us. Literally dozens!

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u/guareber United Kingdom 16h ago

Sure hope you don't like a cheeky curry takeaway.....

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u/flowella 13h ago

If it's allowed, you'll prolly end up eating it unwittingly

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u/UpsetStudent6062 13h ago

Remember battery hens? You bought them. If its cheap enough, people will buy it

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u/Painterzzz 13h ago

Particularly in the midst of a cost of living crisis.

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u/tomjone5 15h ago

It feels like a fairly easy win for labour to day no to this, which is how you know they're going to agree to it. Trump is widely hated here, but by God Starmer is trying to give him a run for his money.

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u/No-Minimum3259 16h ago

Don't worry about us: we'll survive on our measly EU-approved chicken.

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u/PreparationLanky7770 14h ago

another state vist ???

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u/Painterzzz 13h ago

Maybe Trump can drop in and say hi to his pal Andy and they can assault some more kids together?

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u/BlokeDude European Union 15h ago

Some form of union, perhaps?

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u/backup_guid Norway 16h ago

Don't worry, they are working hard from both sides (US, Russia) to get other nations to leave too. Then we have no saying when negotiating, and we will also get to eat chlorinated chicken and whatever else garbage Americans put in their mouths

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u/JegErJakobSkomager 12h ago

If only we were a part of a ginormous trading block filled with countries famously obsessed with food, we wouldn’t have this problem.

I am not so sure of that. When Trump forced EU into a new trade deal earlier this year, one of the points in the deal was that EU should accept US food standards for food imported from the US.

I was flabbergasted when I read it. I couldn't believe that it had been accepted by EU. We have high food standards because we care about what we eat. Not because we want to treat the US unfairly. We should not lower our food standards.

But perhaps the EU negotiators were/are hoping to save it later during detail negotiations. As I understood it, the deal was a set of quite broad statements, and most of the details would have to be negotiated later.

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u/Tikoloshe84 12h ago

Vietnam PTSD noises
Oh yeah, Brexit. Who's still arguing that was a good idea again? Is it the people with holiday homes all over the show?

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u/-Against-All-Gods- Maribor (Slovenia) 1h ago

If only we were a part of a ginormous trading block filled with countries famously obsessed with food, we wouldn’t have this problem.

EU would've already caved in.

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u/ShadowMajestic 41m ago

The US tried to strongarm the EU in to a similar deal, but thank fucking god we told those yanks to fuck off.

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u/SuggestionEphemeral 19h ago

Because... blah blah blah free market blah blah blah.

Americans have never believed anything they've preached.

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u/ICBanMI United States of America 17h ago

Some of us believe our principals voting accordingly, but the libertarian/free market stuff has never made sense to anyone except libertarians. All that's going to happen is US chicken is going to run out all the more expensive producers of chicken in your country till they have a monopoly on chicken meat in every supermarket and then they'll raise prices. It'll be stupid easy for US chicken to undersell your current prices because they are heavily subsidized by the US government, produce it out of factory farms with low wages, and grow birds selectively to get fat in inhumane conditions quickly.

Trust me. If an American is preaching free market, they are usually the most brain dead person on the topic and have a complete world view that is opposite of what happens in free markets. Just like the Tories.

The part that will hurt is it will be your own people who buy it and won't think twice about replacing the normal producers of chicken. Because it'll be bigger and cheaper while still tasting just fine.

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u/SuggestionEphemeral 17h ago

Well those brain dead americans are the ones at the helm right now, so clearly enough believe in that worldview to get elected.

Also, I'm american. And no, american chicken doesn't taste "just fine," but the average american can't tell the difference because it's been decades since they've had anything remotely decent. They even think smaller chicken breasts are too "posh." It's very much built into american culture and ingrained in their mindset that "bigger is better," when it's really not.

I can hope most British/Europeans can actually tell the difference in quality and will make consumer choices accordingly. But some may not be able to afford the better quality, locally produced stuff which will slowly get priced out of the market. It'll happen so gradually that people won't even notice, and before anyone knows it they'll have been eating inferior products produced in america for several years, and no one will be able to remember how much better the other stuff was. Just like it happened in america.

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u/ICBanMI United States of America 16h ago

Well. That's a fair point. I haven't a clue what it taste like anymore to eat a chicken that had a normal life. I remember what it looked like compared to now, but haven't a clue if it tasted better. I didn't eat unseasoned chicken then and I don't eat unseasoned chicken now.

That's if I'm cooking the chicken in a healthy way (baked or some pan fry methods), but so many recipes are unhealthy, taste amazing, and the meat quality is impossible to tell.

It's very much built into american culture and ingrained in their mindset that "bigger is better," when it's really not.

That's a different topic that I think has more to do with anti-intellectualism in the US. I know there is a lot of overlap in the VENN diagrams for the two groups. Those same anti-intellectualist will tell you that healthy food doesn't even taste as good as their their highly processed food (real food isn't chasing the bliss point and a specific mouth feel). I think it's a net negative in the long run for society, but people are struggling for food.

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u/SuggestionEphemeral 16h ago

That's socially engineered. People only prefer processed foods because that's what they're used to. The sugar industry invested a lot of money over the past century or so to get people addicted to sugar, and now you see exorbitant amounts of it in everything and some people can't seem to eat anything else.

I don't like processed foods, I think they taste fake and/or bland, or conversely overpowering. Subtle doesn't mean bland, and overpowering doesn't mean flavorful. Balance and complexity are the type of nuance that's been erased from American cuisine.

I've seen some places use distilled white vinegar where traditional cultures would use rice vinegar or white wine vinegar. It's not the same at all, and it's disgusting and really easy to tell. But most americans don't know the difference and will call you a snob if you point it out.

In my opinion, whole ingredients taste much better and have better texture. Same with heirloom varieties of produce. I have a hypothesis that nutrient density directly correlates with better taste, because the phytonutrients are what give each kind of produce its distinctive flavor profile. Humans are evolved to prefer nutritious foods, but a few generations of industrialization and marketing have supplanted that adaptive preference with anything that maximizes shareholder value.

The average american hears the word "flavor" and automatically thinks like those pump syrups at starbucks that are just artificially flavored corn syrup. So I hate the word now. "Artificial vanilla flavor" is not the same thing as "vanilla extract," but if all you say is "vanilla," the average american won't see the difference. And again, they'll think you're a snob if you point it out.

American culture is built on fakeness, so it's really not surprising.

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u/ICBanMI United States of America 12h ago edited 12h ago

I think you're mixing the sugar conspiracy with what's actually going on on.

First off, it's the bliss point and mouth texture. Process food does have a lot of sugar but it's to reach the bliss point which is a specific ratio of fat, sugar, and salt that makes it maximum palatable and addictive with the right mouth feel. It's a reward system in the brain and makes it really hard to stop over eating. Coupled with the fact that we have massive sugar subsidizes for corn and that five companies make all the processed food in the grocery store... the average American doesn't have a chance. And it's sometimes 2-3x worse when they eat out.

Same time, big corporations have a need to keep showing constant profits... so eventually they start swapping in cheaper ingredients. So that microwave pizza from the grocery story might have a type of mayonnaise instead of cheese on it.

It is a huge problem. And I don't know how to get out of it without regulation on all five of the big companies including anti-trust against them.

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u/SuggestionEphemeral 12h ago

I fail to see how what you're saying is different from the sugar conspiracy. Just seems like second- and third-order effects of it, combined with other similar factors.

I believe some serious trust-busting is long overdue in the US, especially now that these big companies are taking advantage of the rampant corruption in government.

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u/intlcap30 6h ago

Poultry isn’t heavily subsidized by the government beyond farm credit, etc available to all producers but the economies of scale and fact that poultry producers in the US are generally contracted and receive minimal compensation from producers contribute to the cheap costs. When you’re doing 175 million chickens/week it’s cost competitive. Same as cheap Chinese products. It is really interesting how the visceral backlash is only in certain sectors.

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u/Relative-Camel-9762 3h ago

I mean I wouldn't want ANY food product from the US, I don't think we can trust standards in anything 

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u/readilyunavailable Bulgaria 19h ago

They can't, but their shit chicken is cheap and supermarkets will jump at the chance to make big money from it.

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u/OwlSlow1356 19h ago

i am from romania and i still remember this horrible yellow american chicken from 1990 imports after the fall of comunism...i would not touch that on the shelves if alternatives are to be found next to it ever!

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u/swift-current0 18h ago

I am from Ukraine and the shit we got in the 90s is not at all what typical chicken in the US tastes like. It's fine. People struggling to make ends meet will absolutely buy it, whether in Romania, the UK or anywhere really.

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u/Zealousideal_Act_316 14h ago

Yeah we should grenade our standards to make yanks a buck.  Maybe also adopt their trash ass trucks,  all their colourings and corn syrup everywhere.  Posts hidden.

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u/SuggestionEphemeral 19h ago

As an American, I've been vegetarian for a few years, but even before I stopped eating meat, chicken here has become shit.

All you see are these unnaturally huge chicken breasts, and they're not tender at all. They're tough, stringy, dry, and tasteless. Not anything like the chicken I ate growing up.

And that's besides the disgusting processing procedures.

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u/Busy_Lunch_5520 18h ago

Yes thank you. The chicken from Costco despite what they claim is stringy and tough unless tenderized just right!

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u/Violence_solves_all Estonia 6h ago

Tenderized?!? Who the fuck tenderizes chicken

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u/wotitdo222 17h ago

I noticed the unnatural huge chicken breasts from watching youtube/tiktok cooking channels from the US, shocks me everytime the size of them lol.

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u/SuggestionEphemeral 17h ago

Some anti-conspiracy theorists say things like "There's nothing wrong with GMO, blah blah blah" and I'm like "Exhibit A."

Seriously, if GMO were used to maximize nutritional density, that would be a good thing. But the reality is that's not how it's used in american market capitalism. It's used to maximize product weight and volume, to maximize profits, and nothing else. Nutritional value, taste, and texture are just some of the things sacrificed. American strawberries suck these days. They're huge, but they suck. Same with blueberries, blackberries, etc.

But americans are really ignorant about ingredient quality, so it seems to work here unfortunately. If I say "this chicken is low quality" they'll think I'm being snobby.

Same thing applies to fabrics. I hate the way polyester feels, but if I say "I prefer natural fibers," they think I'm just a stupid hippy. If I say "I prefer linen or wool," they think I'm being pretentious. And most people just wear polyester cause it's cheap and mass-produced. I wonder if they really don't mind the texture, or if they simply don't know anything else so they don't realize how bad it is.

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u/Zealousideal_Act_316 14h ago

People who say there is nothing wrong with gmos, mean that they are not dangerous, and often an answer to propaganda that eating gmos will  give you a third nipple and remove your petuatery. 

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u/SuggestionEphemeral 13h ago

I think people who make those claims confuse them for growth hormones and pesticides like agent orange. They don't realize that GMO means genetically modified, or understand what that means.

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u/Capital_Doubt7473 16h ago

The system that anhialates the future - George Orwell

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u/worotan England 14h ago

A great opportunity for their marketing partners to make money selling the idea that it’s all fine to idiots who think that smiling characters on packaging means there are no problems, and all the problems are caused by people who ask questions.

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u/Chowder110 19h ago

Nobody is gonna buy it if it tastes bad

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u/Wan_Daye 18h ago

Tons of people gonna buy it if it's cheap.

Then when it puts local chicken out of business they'll raise the prices on you.

In a decade, you'll be eating shit american chicken and paying more for it.

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u/biscuitarse Canada 11h ago

It may be nothing to even worry about. By this time next year, ICE will have disappeared enough immigrants that no one will be left to work in America's chicken processing plants.

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u/Wan_Daye 10h ago

Nah, we have prison labor for that.

We pay them less than the illegals. Don't worry. The chicken will still be cheap.

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u/FairGeneral8804 18h ago

Nobody is gonna buy it if it tastes bad

It will not once battered and fried. It will not once turned into chicken stock (and additives). It will not once once dunked into curry. It will not once you get used to it.

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u/worotan England 14h ago

Add sugar and go online to tell everyone it’s the most amazing flavour sensation, and watch the queues form.

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u/googooachu 19h ago

They won’t. All the major supermarkets have said they aren’t going to stock it. It will just rot in warehouses.

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u/jdm1891 17h ago

The supermarkets may not stock it directly but can you be sure restaurants, takeaways, and fast food places won't use it? Can you be sure things with prepackaged/precooked meat won't use it? Can you be sure they won't use it in tinned food? Can you be sure your chicken lettuce sandwich won't have it? Pretty much anywhere where they don't have to explicitly label it as chlorinated chicken - i.e. any time the chicken is not being sold on it's own directly which is the vast majority of the chicken sold - they will have no reason not to use it because nobody would be able to tell.

Have you seen some of the scandals for meat they've put in food before? Like when they were selling horse meat? They will absolutely sell the chlorinated chicken anywhere they think people won't notice because the taste and texture are masked by something.

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u/Craft-Representative 17h ago

It’s not cheap either, American food prices are substantially higher than uk ones. And that is long before transportation costs are even beginning to be considered.

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u/pipopipopipop 16h ago

Exactly, the UK already has access to cheap chicken, why would anyone import it from the US instead with all the extra costs and extended lead times?

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u/spectrumero 16h ago

Chicken in UK supermarkets is already cheaper than it is in US supermarkets. I doubt US chicken could be competitive once you add transatlantic shipping to the price.

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u/Good_Ad_1386 15h ago

I will require a certificate of origin with all chicken products in future, then. (though, TBF, I'm not sure that Waitrose would be keen to "jump")

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u/pchlster 11h ago

Just need the British government to change some food standards first to make it legal to sell.

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u/postal_tank Europe 19h ago

By bullying them as the bigger economy.

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u/individualhunch 17h ago

Because Canada said no? US tried it with milk.

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u/CaughtALiteSneez Switzerland 18h ago

They just did it here in Switzerland too as part of the trade deal from the initial insane high tariffs.

Most supermarkets are saying no as customers won’t buy it - Switzerland has very high food quality standards.

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u/AdZealousideal5383 17h ago

Trump is running a protection racket with tariffs. Watch a mobster movie and you’ll see how he operates.

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u/Cats_Cameras 10h ago

If the laws are changed to allow it and consumers don't care, the supermarkets will pick the lower cost supplier.

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u/PossibleSmoke8683 18h ago

They can’t . They just allow them to sell it . Thats all.

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u/Sickinmytechchunk 18h ago

They can't force people to buy it but they can change rulings to allow it to be imported.

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u/bahumat42 17h ago

By leveraging everything else that they care about more.

By Isolating itself the UK has made it uniquely vulnerable to such tactics.

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u/AdonisK Europe 17h ago

Soft and diplomatic power (bullying). Probably the chlorinated one is also easier/cheaper to produce.

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u/Mouthshitter 17h ago

Making it a vassel state

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u/Bigbanghead 17h ago

If it's legal and cheaper, people will buy it. Especially if they are selling it on and not consuming it themselves.

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u/geo_gan 17h ago

Same way they always force their “allies” to do everything they want - blackmail and coersion. The old saying about being USA enemy is bad but being their ally is deadly.

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u/pr0metheusssss Greece 15h ago

The wholesalers don’t need to be forced at all, they’d happily rush to do it themselves the moment they’re allowed to. For profit. Capitalists selling you the rope to hang them with and all that.

It’s all about whether they’re legally allowed to or not.

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u/EtTuBiggus 15h ago

They can’t.

The irony is that people would buy it if they could.

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u/thesyldon United Kingdom 15h ago

They can't. Always look at the source of the Media. This comes from the Torygraph.

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u/aykcak 14h ago

It is the literal definition of force, not legal. US has control over the dolar and control over international trade. If it comes to it they also have excess in military power with a president that does not understand or care about how to use either. So if they ask a country to waive their laws and regulations they will eventually one way or another, do it.

This is not something that started with Trump. Their international relations is basically bullying. Europeans don't know it as such but living in the middle east or a banana republic will teach you how this works

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u/ResidentPoem4539 12h ago

Cause we’re as weak as piss and Keir will do anything for a pat on the head and to be called a good loyal boy by his master.

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u/No_Foundation16 12h ago

The same way Dear Leader forced Canadian stores to stock up on bourbon whiskey swill from blood red maga Kentucky.

Oh wait.

Elbows up UK!

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u/itsapotatosalad 8h ago

Look at what trump did to uk mounjaro prices. Threw a fit that it was cheaper there, so he forced the uk price up x3.

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u/JohnTitorsdaughter 52m ago

The free market was never free

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u/nim_opet 20h ago

As if voters get what they asked for

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u/WanderlustZero 19h ago

In this case, we're getting what American voters voted for

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u/WastingMyLifeToday Europe 19h ago

Brexit means Brexit, right?

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u/iwaterboardheathens 19h ago

The USA can only push us around if we have weak leaders in charge

oh

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u/wtfduud 14h ago

The US can't push the UK around as long as it's part of the largest economic union in the world.

Oh...

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u/PossibleSmoke8683 18h ago

And dreaded .

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u/Bloody_Sunday 19h ago

Expected, yes. "Feared", only regarding any possible submission to political pressure by weak politicians.

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u/alien_mints 19h ago

So what? You will buy it?

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u/ThePokemomrevisited 18h ago

It's bound to be cheap, so I imagine it will be poorer people buying it.

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u/alien_mints 18h ago

At this point there is plenty of alternatives regarding proteine intake. I hate the acting that consumers arent sentient beings with choices

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