Donald Trump’s visit to the UK is likely to see billions of pounds worth of trade investments announced between the two countries. The US President departed Washington with First Lady Melania Trump as he headed to the UK for an unprecedented second state visit.
Trump and his wife will arrive in Britain on Tuesday evening and will spend the night at the US Ambassador’s residence – Winfield House. On Wednesday he will head to Windsor to meet King Charles before spending Thursday with the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. The President is likely to prioritise trade talks with the Labour leader, with a raft of new investments expected to be announced during his visit, according to a top US political expert.
James D. Boys is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on US Politics at University College London (UCL).
“Trade will be at the heart of this visit,” he told the Express. “The invitation was extended as Trump announced Liberation Day and many nations appear envious at the deal that the UK already has with the US, which is in large part due to its status outside of the EU due to the Brexit vote.
“There is an expectation that deals worth more than $10 billion (£7.3bn) will be announced while the President is in the UK, further cementing relations and giving President Trump yet another in a series of very beneficial trade deals and announcements of inward investment since launching his tariff initiative in April.”
Unlike the EU, Brexit Britain was able to secure substantial “sectoral concessions” in its trade deal with the US – although it will still have to pay a baseline reciprocal 10% levy. Downing Street negotiators agreed tariff free trade for UK exports of steel and aluminium.
Britain was also granted an annual quota of 100,000 cars at a 10% tariff, in a big boost for UK-based automotive manufacturers. This represents a considerable discount from the 25% levy that other exporters will have to pay.
In a major boost for Britain, Google owner Alphabet has just announced a £5 billon investment in UK artificial intelligence (AI) – showing the potential new economic opportunities that closer ties with the US could bring.
The company will officially open a £735 million data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday.
The investment will expand this site and also include funding for London-based DeepMind. The company is run by British Nobel Prize winner Sir Demis Hassabis, and deploys AI to revolutionise advanced scientific research.
Dr Boys also said that the so-called “special relationship” between the US and UK was still very much alive and is based on stronger ties than personal relations.
“It has been said that the Special Relationship has had more come-backs than Sinatra,” he noted.
“It is often written-off and dismissed as being a figment of British imagination or an attempt to elevate the importance of the UK in Washington DC.
“The Special Relationship appears to be prioritised in the UK when there is a popular president in the White House, and dismissed when this is not the case.