- Business and Trade Secretary and Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis to sign Memorandum of Understanding to encourage trade
between the UK and Florida
- Pact targeted at high-potential sectors such as space and
fintech and designed to boost exports and investment between the
UK and Florida
- MoU with Florida the latest the UK has signed with a US
state, bringing the total to seven states with a combined GDP of
£3.3tn – just under the GDP of Germany
Business and Trade Secretary and Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis will today [Tuesday 14 November] sign a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to boost trade and investment between the UK
and Florida.
Florida has a GDP of over £1.1tn – the fourth biggest of any US
state and roughly the same size as Spain. The MoU is designed to
help make it quicker, easier, and cheaper for UK and Florida
firms to do business and is targeted at sectors in which the UK
and Florida have particular strengths such as space, fintech, AI
and legal services.
The Secretary of State and Governor DeSantis will sign the pact
today in Jacksonville in Florida.
The MoU is the first the UK has signed which focuses on the space
sector. Florida is home to the NASA Kennedy Space Center and has
world-leading capabilities in launch infrastructure,
manufacturing, and satellite development, presenting huge
opportunities for the UK’s growing space industry – now with an
income worth over £17.5 billion and employing nearly 50,000
people.
After today’s signing the UK will have MoUs with seven US states
– Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah,
Washington, and Florida – with a combined GDP of £3.3tn, just
under the GDP of Germany. The UK is also actively engaging with
further states including Texas, California, Colorado, and
Illinois.
Business and Trade Secretary said:
“Florida is a major economy in its own right, with a bigger GDP
than most European countries. From launching satellites to
developing the latest fintech software, Florida’s leading
high-tech companies offer huge opportunities to the UK’s rapidly
expanding tech sector.
“Today’s signing shows our US state-level strategy is working and
delivering for UK firms, giving them a competitive edge in some
of the most exciting markets in the world. I want to thank
Governor DeSantis and his team for helping to make this MoU
happen.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said:
“Florida is the national leader for business growth and economic
development, and today’s MOU signing will continue to ensure our
state remains the model for American excellence.
“I am honored to stand today with MP Badenoch to strengthen the
economic partnership between our state and the United Kingdom.”
UKspace Chair John Hanley said:
“Space is a global business – and the United States is one of the
UK’s most significant trading partners. UKspace welcomes this
MoU – the first focused on space – and looks
forward to it delivering new opportunities for companies of all
sizes throughout the UK space industry, as well as counterparts
in Florida. This will deepen our relationships with space
companies in Florida and open up new prospects for collaboration
and driving mutually beneficial trade and investment on both
sides of the Atlantic.”
The MoUs signed with US states are already delivering for UK
companies. Cambridge-based Marshall Aerospace is opening a new
aircraft maintenance facility and engineering hub at the Piedmont
Triad International Airport in North Carolina – an investment
worth $50m that will create 240 local jobs. The company has
credited the UK’s relationship with North Carolina and our recent
MoU for enabling the environment for their
investment.
The US is the UK’s largest trading partner and the biggest
investor in the UK. Every day more than one million people get up
and go to work for British companies in America, and almost 1.5
million people do the same for American companies in the UK.
The UK has a “twin-track” approach to increasing trade with the
US, working with individual states to boost trade, including
through MoUs, while also engaging with the federal government to
unlock opportunities at a national level.
On 8th June the Prime Minister and President Biden announced the
Atlantic Declaration – a first-of-its-kind action plan covering
our economic, technological, commercial and trade relations. As
part of that we agreed to explore ways to grow trade between the
UK and the US, already worth £310 billion, and to launch talks on
a Critical Minerals Agreement to ensure this strategically
important UK sector can better access the US
market.
