“The British are coming.” So history records Paul Revere’s warning, as the Redcoats marched toward Lexington and Concord out of Boston — with the shots heard round the world issuing forth the independent United States of America.

Taxes and trade were the powder of that conflagration; and in post-Brexit Britain, financial well-being once again comes to the fore: this time with London seeking terms with her sometime overseas possession.

In June a majority of Britons voted to cut ties with the European Union’s régime of continental economic regulation and subsidies; and focus shifts to reviving commercial routes that thrived at the zenith of the British empire.

In the wake of the Brexit vote, interest is growing in respect of free trade relations with the “Canzuk” Commonwealth members, leading naturally to prospects of a larger liberty bloc among other Anglosphere nations adhering to rule of law, representative democracy, and free markets. Her Majesty’s Government has America in its sights.

Prime Minister May set the tone in remarks at September’s G20 conference in China, where she spoke of the government’s “determination to secure trade deals with countries from around the world,” in pursuit of which there would be “a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Brexit and International Trade to discuss how the government should pursue an ambitious trade strategy and to work out which markets we should prioritise.”

Groundwork was laid in July during Trade Minister Liam Fox’s visit to Chicago “to draw on this enduring friendship” and “to ensure the UK and the United States strengthen our already close trading ties.” He announced the addition of three outreach offices in America to the already existing eleven, with the aim “to boost trade and investment.”

“Between the UK and US, nearly $1 trillion worth of investment flows across the Atlantic: making us each other’s largest investor, and each other’s largest foreign job creator,” Dr. Fox emphasized. “UK companies employ one million people in America and US companies employ a similar figure in the UK.”

Nor did Dr. Fox shy away from presidential politics and implications for trans-Atlantic co-operation. “This is what open trade is all about, something I’d like to hear more of in the current American electoral cycle. It’s about countries coming together to set the conditions so that businesses, skilled people, goods and services can move easily. This creates stability, enriches our cultures, and spreads prosperity.”

Dr. Fox left the Windy City in no doubt of his intentions: “I want the UK and USA together to lead the world as shining beacons of open trade.”

These sentiments were echoed in the nation’s capital, when Britain’s minister for Europe and the Americas, Alan Duncan, announced that America “is clearly at the top” for post-Brexit trade proposals. At an address to the Brookings Institution this past week on the topic of “Britain in the world,” Sir Alan assured his Washington audience “the special relationship between our countries is something we greatly value . . . that continues to strengthen and deepen with the passage of time.”

Little question exists about how these British trade initiatives will be received at the White House. Hillary Clinton avers she will be a surrogate for her Democrat predecessor’s policies, which is not promising, given President Obama’s attempt to ward off a Brexit vote by threating to relegate all UK trade negotiations “to the back of the queue.”

Donald Trump, meanwhile, launching a Scottish golf course at the time of the Brexit victory, refuted Obama. “That wouldn’t happen with me,” The Donald responded. “The UK’s been such a great ally for so long. They’ll always be at the front of the line. They’ve been amazing allies — in good times and bad times.”

Dusty precedent exists for Anglo-American free trade. Thomas Jefferson composed an open pre-Revolutionary letter for George III to interpose for “the preservation of that harmony which alone can continue both in Great Britain and America the reciprocal advantages of their connection.” He asked the king to implore Parliament, on behalf of his American subjects, to “accept of every commercial preference it is in our power to give for such things as we can raise for their use, or they make for ours.”

History records that King George ignored Jefferson’s advice. Trans-Atlantic amity was broken, revolution ensued, independence gained. Things were put back on course with the Jay Treaty. Now another chance at mutually beneficial trade relations presents itself to their descendants.

Mr. MacLean maintains the weblog The Organic Tory.