Poll: UK, U.S. respondents see Trump's unpredictability as trade deal risk, view China as more reliable

A new online poll suggests many people in the United States and the United Kingdom believe President Donald Trump's unpredictability is a major pitfall in any trade deal and that China would be a more reliable trading partner than the United States.

Less than one-third of respondents in the UK and 44 percent of Americans said they believed Trump would abide by the terms of outlined in the nascent U.S.-UK trade deal, according to the poll conducted by London-based pollster Public First for Politico. 

As many as 47 percent of American respondents, including 25 percent of his own voters, said Trump's unpredictability is the biggest barrier to negotiations between the UK and the U.S., and 42 percent said they would not trust Trump to abide by a trade deal, including 11 percent of his own supporters and 36 percent of independents.

While the respondents were cautious about the U.S.'s credibility in trade deals, a plurality of UK adults said China would be more reliable than the U.S. as a trading partner.

Some 42 percent of British respondents said China would be a more reliable trading partner than the United States and the sentiment was particularly strong among young people, with a majority of British respondents younger than 34 saying China is the more stable partner.

"China is looking a lot better these days, given that they're not unilaterally and without provocation lashing out at even folks they thought were their closest allies and trading partners," Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, told Politico.

The online poll of about 2,000 adults in the UK and the U.S. was conducted from April 23 to 27.