On March 21 and 22 United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan and United States Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai hosted the first joint U.S./UK Dialogues on the Future of Atlantic Trade in Baltimore, Maryland. Following President Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement last year of a new 'Atlantic Charter', the U.S./UK Dialogues on the Future of Atlantic Trade are exploring how the United States and United Kingdom will collaborate to advance mutual international trade priorities rooted in our shared values, while promoting innovation and inclusive economic growth for workers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the two-day period, Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ambassador Katherine Tai, and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jayme White, visited the Port of Baltimore and a local technology incubator, Fearless Tech; hosted a series of roundtable discussions with a diverse group of national and local workers, business and civil society stakeholders; and met bilaterally. In addition, USTR and UK Department for International Trade staff discussed opportunities for the United States and United Kingdom to advance the U.S.-UK trade relationship and advance an inclusive trade policy.
The stakeholder roundtables identified areas of consensus where the UK and U.S can build and deepen their cooperation on trade. This includes protecting labour rights and the environment; promoting supply chain resilience; supporting the low-carbon transition; making it easier for SMEs to export; and ensuring the benefits of trade are evenly distributed across our countries.
Ambassador Katherine Tai and Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan committed to:
- Reestablish the UK-US SME dialogue to continue to bring together SMEs from both sides of the Atlantic to identify ways to further support trade and investment;
- Harness the benefits of an open and competitive digital economy, with appropriate safeguards for workers, consumers and businesses;
- Build on the G7's first ever set of Digital Trade Principles during UK presidency, such as working towards the digitisation of paper-based customs and other border agencies' requirements to cut red tape;
- Build strong, durable supply chains that can withstand future global shocks;
- Strengthen the protection of labour rights and the environment, with one another and our other trading partners;
- Tackle forced labour globally;
- Create incentives through trade to transition to a decarbonised economy and protect our environment;
- Advance trade policy to consider gender, underserved and marginalised communities as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, and producers; and
- Address third party market-distorting practices.
Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ambassador Katherine Tai will use these Dialogues and their ongoing engagement with stakeholders to identify further steps to move forward our important U.S.-UK bilateral trade relationship and address our shared challenges and opportunities over the coming months. A second joint U.S./UK Dialogue on the Future of Atlantic Trade is being planned for the UK in late April, 2022.
A full list of UK and U.S. stakeholders who attended the first U.S./U.K Dialogue on the Future of Atlantic Trade will be published in due course.
