Trade Secretary Praises Role of Free Trade in Global Security at Transatlantic Defense Summit

  • The UK hosts the fifth Atlantic Future Forum aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in New York Harbor
  • Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch will deliver a keynote address and the Prime Minister recorded the opening speech
  • The Trade Secretary will boost transatlantic trade and investment and explain to US investors why the UK is the best place in the world to invest

Britain today [28 September] launches the fifth annual Atlantic Future Forum (AFF), bringing together British and American captains of industry aboard Britain’s largest and most powerful warship, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The two-day event will focus on new approaches to global security and future technologies to tackle everything from the war in Ukraine to climate change, with UK companies across the defence, cyber and technology sectors able to network with potential investors .

Speaking to over 450 government and business leaders, Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch will highlight the role of free trade in providing global economic security and economic growth. She will say that our two like-minded democracies must continue to work together to defend the rules-based international order.

Trade Minister Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP said:

“The US is our most important trade, defense and security partner. We share the same values ​​- freedom, free trade and the rule of law. Our special relationship means that together we are a force for progress as we face countries that threaten these values.

“The Atlantic Future Forum represents an incredible opportunity for our two nations to share skills, ideas and technologies. Every morning over a million people get up and go to work for British companies in America and over a million do the same for American companies in Britain.

“Britain is an innovative nation with low taxes, lots of talent and I will show America’s biggest companies that we are ready to be their investment partner of choice.”

The US has been Britain’s largest foreign investment partner for the past two decades. US companies employed nearly 1.5 million people in the UK in 2019, three quarters more than in 1997. US investment also supports the UK’s alignment agenda, with 60% of these jobs based outside of London and the South East.

Following her speech, Badenoch will use her two-day visit to New York to capitalize on growing investor interest in the UK by meeting New York-based investors to profile the UK as a defence, cyber and technology superpower and as a source of unrivalled to encourage talent. She will visit Mastercard’s new Experience Center at its Tech Hub in Manhattan’s Flatiron District and meet with some of the largest US and UK companies at a British American Business Roundtable to discuss investment opportunities contributing to the growth of the economy British economy can contribute.

Badenoch will speak with her counterpart in the Biden administration, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, to discuss how our two countries can expand our already thriving trade relationship.

The Secretary of Commerce will also use her time in the US to highlight opportunities at the state level following the signing of recent Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Indiana and North Carolina. The MOUs aim to cut red tape and remove obstacles that British companies face when exporting to the US.

The UK is working on more MoUs with Oklahoma and South Carolina in the coming months and is looking to advance talks with other states this year.

Background:

  • Now in its fifth year, the annual Defence, Security, Trade and Technology Forum is convened by the UK Government with full funding from global industry partners.

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