US, U.K. discuss trade cooperation with larger deal postponed

U.S. and U.K. officials are set to discuss areas of cooperation on trade this week, even as the larger prize of a sweeping agreement sought by Britain remains far off.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will host U.K. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan on Monday and Tuesday for meetings in Baltimore dubbed the “Dialogues on the Future of Atlantic Trade.” The event will feature meetings with workers, businesses and unions, as well as a tour of the city’s port and a digital services firm, according to USTR officials.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the importance of cooperation and collective action on areas like trade and export controls, and the talks likely will include discussion of how to pursue shared U.S.-U.K. interests with regard to Russia and China, the officials said.

The talks will focus on areas such as enhancing labor rights to make workplaces safer; support for domestic investment and more competitive workforces; environmental practices; promoting racial and gender equality through trade; and spreading the benefits of digital trade, the officials said. The nations also will look at working together to address non-market economies and promote supply chain resilience and corporate responsibility.

The two governments don’t plan any official discussions on a free-trade agreement, the officials said. While the nations began talks in 2020 under President Donald Trump and held five virtual negotiating rounds, the last one took place in October of that year and the Biden administration hasn’t restarted the process.

Steel Solution

One U.K. goal that could be reached sooner is the resolution of U.S. tariffs on British steel and aluminum. The duties were applied during the Trump administration under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

While they were eased for the European Union last year, they’ve continued for the U.K. since it left the EU. USTR officials said progress is being made on talks that were announced in January.

The delay on a free-trade agreement has been disappointment for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who touted a U.S. deal as one of the great prizes of the campaign he spearheaded to leave the EU. As foreign secretary in 2017, Johnson boasted the U.K. was now “first in line to do a great free-trade deal with the United States.”

At the start of the Biden administration, Tai said that the U.S. was reviewing how such a deal would fit with Biden’s overall agenda and the administration’s pledge to put workers at the center of its policies. The Biden administration then allowed the trade negotiating authority delegated to it by Congress to expire last year.

The AFL-CIO labor federation, a key interest group for Democrats, has opposed most past U.S. free-trade deals. With midterm elections looming in November and polls showing Democrats likely to lose their majority in the House of Representatives, a deal with the U.K. could be years away.

Baltimore was chosen as the site for the meeting to get out of Washington and get a better perspective on how trade affects the lives of American workers, the USTR officials said. A second installation of the dialogue will be held in the coming months in the U.K., which is also interested in getting outside the capital for the event, the officials said.