UK and US to have ‘transatlantic dialogues’ in bid to boost trade
The UK and US will next week hold the first of a series of “transatlantic dialogues” in a bid to boost bilateral trade between the two countries post-Brexit.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) said the dialogues “will bring together government ministers, senior officials, trade unions, businesses and civil society from both sides to discuss ways the UK and US can work together to deepen our trading relationship”.
UK international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan will travel to Baltimore next week to meet with her US counterpart Katherine Tai for the first of the meetings, with another expected later in spring.
Trade negotiations for a UK-US trade deal post-Brexit stalled last year, after Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US President.
A series of negotiating rounds were held under Donald Trump’s administration, however signing new trade deals is not currently a priority for Biden.
“This new UK-US dialogue is a symbol of our ambition to work even closer with businesses and workers to promote innovation, inclusive economic growth and support jobs on both sides of the Atlantic,” Trevelyan said.
“These events are a huge opportunity to make it even easier, quicker and more cost-effective to do trans-Atlantic trade, but also to tackle the most pressing challenges we face like congested supply chains and climate change.”
Trade minister Penny Mordaunt is currently negotiating with governors across America in a bid to close mini-trade deals with individual US states.
Any agreement between the UK and an individual state would not be able to remove tariffs on goods, however trade experts say a deal could be done to make it easier for British companies and professionals to operate in the US.