- President Trump is visiting the UK to secure tech trade deals
- Big Tech leaders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman are also visiting
- AI, quantum computing, semiconductors and more will likely be covered
A new US-UK tech pact is to be signed during President Trump’s visit to London this week, focusing on emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing as well as semiconductors, telecommunications and space.
The change is set to come not only as the US President visits the UK, but also key influencers in Big Tech, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.
Although the scale of the deal is yet to be confirmed, it’s believed it will be positioned as an effort to outpace China in the geopolitically influenced ongoing tech and trade wars.
US and UK to strike up tech deal
The UK Parliament described the deal’s goal as ending sectoral uncertainty, securing supply chains and driving US investment into the UK.
At the moment, the US is the UK’s largest single trading partner, accounting for 18% of UK trade (estimated at £315 billion in 2024). The UK exports an estimated £196 billion to the US, accounting for around 2% of total national income, with mutual trade investments totalling £1.2 trillion.
Today’s Economic Prosperity Deal is a non-binding agreement whereby the UK secured tariff reductions, however some trade deals are still worse than pre-Trump era deals and even some EU deals.
For example, although automotive tariffs had been cut from 25% to 10%, there is a 100,000-vehicle quota in place.
Commons Business and Trade Committee Chair, Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, praised UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for securing the deal: “President Trump’s State Visit is no mere pageant. It is a test of whether Britain and America build a safer, richer future – or remain trapped in tariff fights that serve neither nation well.”
