Five days ago, on February 7th, I wrote the following on the subject of the UK’s attempts to use the Investigatory Powers Act to cripple Apple’s cryptography:

This is the latest in a long line of proto-totalitarian conduct emanating from the UK’s security services with which the Americans are growing increasingly impatient…

…the permanent bureaucracy in the United States which might otherwise have helped the UK apply informal pressure on Americans who dared to disobey its decryption and censorship edicts – none of which, it bears mentioning, are enforceable against an American who refuses them and is happy to avoid setting foot in British territory – is gone.

We read in this weekend’s Telegraph that, in fact, as the old American permanent bureaucracy is in the process of being savagely dismantled, the Online Safety Act – another bill that targets speech both communicated in-the-clear and encrypted – has proven so offensive to the new American regime that the President of the United States is quite literally willing to start a trade war with the UK if it won’t change its position on free speech:

The Government is willing to rework its Online Safety Act in order to swerve tariffs from Donald Trump’s administration.

The law, which regulates online speech, is thought to be heavily disliked by the president’s administration because it can levy massive fines on US tech companies.

Downing Street is willing to renegotiate elements of the Act in order to strike a trade deal, should it be raised by the US, The Telegraph understands.

The law has been heavily criticised by free speech advocates and economists, who argue its broad provisions to tackle harmful online content could lead to excessive censorship and deter investment from American tech giants.

“To many people that are currently in power, they feel the United Kingdom has become a dystopian, Orwellian place where people have to keep silent about things that aren’t fashionable,” they said.

“The administration hate it [Online Safety Act]. Congress has been saying that [it is a concern] ever since it was enacted. Those in the administration are saying the exact same thing.”

…what a time to be alive!