Ever since United Kingdom voters narrowly decided in June 2016 to head for the European Union's exit, and Donald Trump was subsequently elected president in the United States five months later, both the Trump White House and Brexit's most ardent supporters have elevated a potential U.K.-U.S. free-trade deal to mythic status.

Once free of the shackles of the EU and its single market, they argue, Britain will be free to negotiate a massive trade pact with America that would help ease any economic damage to the U.K. economy caused by its divorce from Europe. And that economic damage could be huge if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal — a scenario that's become more likely now that Boris Johnson, the arch-Brexiter and former foreign minister, has taken over as prime minister of the Conservative government.

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