U.S., U.K. seek ‘ambitious roadmap’ to closer trade ties

The U.K. and U.S. said they’re seeking to work quickly to tighten trade ties even as discussions on a free trade accord remain frozen.

After a meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said they’d directed officials to “work at pace over the next several weeks to develop an ambitious roadmap with economically meaningful outcomes” for both nations.

It’s the second round of discussions between the two women as they look to reduce barriers to trade and spread economic benefits of commerce more widely. They previously met in Baltimore in March, when Tai suggested that a traditional free-trade agreement may not be the best approach to addressing the challenges faced by the two nations, calling it “a very 20th-century tool.”

A U.S. free trade deal was once held up by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson as one of the great prizes of the country’s divorce from the European Union. But while talks advanced under the previous U.S. administration of Donald Trump, his successor, President Joe Biden, has put them on ice.

Instead, the U.K. has focused on removing barriers to trade with individual states, as well as the dialog at the federal level with Tai. Areas that Tai and Trevelyan said they’d work on include:

• Helping small and medium-sized businesses to trade by identifying barriers and sharing best practices
• Supporting the digitalization of transactions and trading systems
• Develop inclusive trade policies, protecting labor rights and tackling forced labor
• Building more resilient supply chains, in particular for food