The International Trade Secretary is to meet US Trade
Representative Katherine Tai to discuss closer cooperation on
tackling threats to free and fair global trade during a five-day
visit to the US (11-15 July).
Liz Truss’ meeting with Tai will focus on what we can do to work
together and combat market-distorting trade practices such as
industrial subsidies and dumping, as well as working together to
defend workers and companies that play by the rules against
unfair trading practices in the global trading system, by
combatting forced labour and strengthening supply-chain
resilience.
She will then travel to the West Coast, home to some of the
world’s biggest tech companies, to promote the UK as a leading
investment destination ahead of the Global Investment Summit in
October.
She will meet businesses and investors to discuss opportunities
for growth on both sides of the Atlantic. Truss will speak with
leading Democrats and the tech industry about how a future UK-US
free trade agreement can set gold-standard rules on digital
trade.
Digital trade is a major part of the UK economy, with digital
sectors contributing around £151bn in 2019. The UK tech sector
attracted some $9bn/£7.3bn of foreign investment in 2020. The UK
and US are both world leaders for unicorn companies, start-up
businesses now worth over £1 billion. Based on estimates by
Dealroom and Tech Nation, the UK recently passed 100 unicorns,
joining the US as one of only three countries to reach this
milestone. Deeper trade ties of the kind Truss is pursuing could
encourage the creation of many more.
The visit comes in the wake of the recent resolution of the
Airbus-Boeing dispute, ensuring harmful tariffs are suspended. It
also provides an opportunity to build on commitments made by the
UK and US in the new Atlantic Charter to deepen our trade ties.
International Trade Secretary
said:
“I’m visiting the US to build on the progress we’ve already made
on tackling market-distorting practices that threaten the future
progress and prosperity we can make around the world through free
and fair trade.
“Workers in both the UK and US have suffered when their products
are unfairly undercut. We must work together with our friends and
allies in the US to protect free enterprise from practices like
industrial subsidies and intellectual property theft, which give
trade a bad name.
“With UK US trade supporting over a million jobs in both
countries, there is clear reason to work together to deepen our
trade and investment ties and build back better. Together we can
build on our credentials as two great innovating nations, and
take this opportunity to shape the future of digital trade.”
The US is the UK’s largest single trading partner, with total
trade reaching over £196bn/$252bn in 2020, supporting over one
million jobs in each other’s economies.
Both countries have more than $1tn invested in each other’s
economies.
Notes to Editors
- The US is the UK’s largest single trading partner, accounting
for 16.9% of total UK trade.
- Over one million Brits worked for US firms, and over one
million Americans worked for UK firms in 2018.
- Total trade in goods and services between the UK and the US
in 2020 was £196.3bn.
- Total UK exports to the US amounted to £120bn in 2020.
- TechNation estimates there was $9.4bn/ £7.3bn worth of
foreign investment into the UK tech sector in 2020.
- Sources for statistics:
-
- DCMS Economic Estimates 2019 (provisional): Gross Value
Added
- ONS UK total trade data (non-seasonally adjusted)
- US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Direct Investment and
MNEs, 2018
