Both sides of the pond were abuzz after President Donald Trump made comments June 4 suggesting the U.S. might buy Britain's single-payer healthcare system, the National Health Service.
Here is an overview of what happened:
1. In a London press conference, President Trump said, "When you're dealing on trade, everything is on the table — so NHS or anything else, and a lot more than that," according to The Washington Post. The comments were related to a potential free-trade deal between the two countries if Britain leaves the European Union.
2. The comments from President Trump may have stemmed from a June 2 BBC interview with Woody Johnson, U.S. ambassador to the U.K., CNN reports. Mr. Johnson suggested the healthcare system would be part of U.S.-U.K. negotiations.
3. CNN also noted that a February 2019 report from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative suggests that an objective of U.S.-U.K. trade negotiations is to provide "full market access" to U.S. pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
4. The U.S. is, in fact, already privately involved in NHS and British healthcare, the Post reports. A 2016 article from The Guardian details some of these efforts, which include involvement in the U.K. by Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, Optum, IBM and McKesson.
5. After an uproar from the British, President Trump walked back his comments. In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan after the press conference, President Trump said NHS would not be part of negotiations, according to The Washington Post. "That's something I would not consider part of trade. That's not trade," President Trump said, according to the report.
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