DONALD TRUMP’S nominee to be the United States’ chief agricultural trade negotiator is a former National Cattlemen’s Beef Association employee who has campaigned for the EU to accept beef reared with antibiotics and hormone growth promoters.

Gregg Doud, who was nominated for the top agricultural trade position by President Donald Trump last month, authored a paper in 2013 arguing that the US should 'absolutely' walk away from trade talks with the EU if it refused to drop its restrictions on US meat imports.

His appointment could have implications for the UK’s efforts to seal a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, with reports suggesting the US strategy will be to weaken UK food standards, including the ban on growth hormones, to help boost its meat exports.

UK international trade secretary Liam Fox recently refused to rule out reversing the UK ban on the import of chlorine-washed chicken during a visit to Washington to discuss a post-Brexit trade deal, resulting in a cabinet split with Defra secretary, Michael Gove, who spoke up to insist that the UK would not compromise on its food standards.

The US beef and growth hormone lobbies are mobilising in Washington to take advantage of the UK’s need to strike a post-Brexit trade deal, and alongside Mr Doud, Mr Trump’s nominee for the new role of under-secretary of trade at the US department of agriculture is Ted McKinney, a former director at Elanco Animal Health – a major manufacturer of growth hormones and beta agonists.

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven commented: "With meat industry advocates ruling the roost in Trump's trade team, the UK government is bound to come under serious pressure to open up the British market to these and other controversial goods. Ministers should make it clear that high environmental and food standards are not up for negotiation. They are a guarantee for consumers and a selling point for British businesses in the global market."