Biden and his administration are being bypassed, as the UK signs US deals state-by-state
Brexit Britain’s trade deals just keep on coming
Yesterday the Trade Minister and Remain-voter Nigel Huddleston MP flew to the States. He opened his visit by signing a state-level Trade Memorandum of Understanding with Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, the fourth such agreement between the UK and a US state, before welcoming a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between UK and US architect regulators.
He could not have done any of this if his campaigning in 2016 to remain in the EU had won over British voters. He would have been prevented by the bureaucrats in Brussels. Fortunately, his Remain views were defeated in the EU Referendum, which has now allowed him to celebrate another Brexit win in Washington.
Biden bypassed, as Brexit Britain does deals state-by-state
President Biden’s the plastic Irishman antipathy towards the UK was evident over a week ago when he touched down in Belfast for a brief visit lasting 24 hours before heading south into the Republic of Ireland for four days of schmoozing with locals and giving an address to the Irish parliament.
It is noteworthy that the US President can devote four days to touring Ireland but cannot find time to attend the coronation of King Charles III next month.
Given the current US administration’s attitude to the UK, the Dept for International Trade (now woefully subsumed into a new ‘Department for Business and Trade’) has been working on taking America state-by-state, bypassing Joe Biden completely.
The trade deals being done with the US States come as a result of pioneering work by Dr Liam Fox which was carried on with fervour by Liz Truss when she was International Trade Secretary. They are all designed to deepen UK-US trade ties and secure wins that will boost jobs, investment and exports across the Atlantic.
Governor Stitt of Oklahoma did not hold back in his enthusiasm for the latest deal with Brexit Britain
“We’re bringing the world to Oklahoma and Oklahoma to the world!”
Governor Kevin Stitt
We’re bringing the world to Oklahoma and Oklahoma to the world! OK has a long and rich history with the UK and I look forward to building on our mutually beneficial relationship through this MOU on energy innovation, trade, agriculture, economic development, and more.
The Oklahoma trade deal
No doubt Rejoiners will try to diminish the importance of this new deal with Oklahoma. Well, I have news for them, thanks to doing the research into the official figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose anti-Brexit forecasts they love. This one US State has a GDP higher than that of ELEVEN EU27 countries
[Source: Latest IMF official data.]
The Oklahoma trade ‘MoU’ will focus on decarbonisation, particularly through boosting collaboration and investment in areas such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). This is an area of economic opportunity for the UK, expected to create up to 50,000 British jobs by the end of this decade.
The UK already has MoUs in place with Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina, which are helping UK businesses meet new buyers and secure new contracts. Discussions are ongoing with other states including Utah, Texas and California.
The Oklahoma deal aims to boost the £174.4m worth of goods UK companies exported to Oklahoma in 2022 and generate more jobs for exporters in the UK. Nearly 3,000 jobs in Oklahoma are supported by exports to the UK and nearly 10,000 people in the state are employed by British companies.
Top goods exports from the UK to Oklahoma in 2022 included nuclear, medical, navigational and photographic equipment, and precious stones and metals.
The architecture deal
Today the Trade Minister will attend an event with industry bodies to welcome the ground-breaking architect Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA). This is the first of its kind signed by the UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) and will ensure UK architects can take advantage of new opportunities in several states across the United States.
Architecture and engineering services in the UK are worth £22bn, with architectural services employing around 70,000 people across the country.
Practising architecture in the US requires licensing, typically at the state level, which makes it harder for UK architects to work in the country. Under the new agreement, eligible UK architects and businesses will face significantly less testing and a shorter process to get a licence in participating jurisdictions. The photo below is what will be the new JFK Airport in New York, designed by British architect Andrew Whalley from Grimshaw.
Business and Trade Minister Nigel Huddleston MP said:
“I’m thrilled to be in America building on our strong trading relationship with the US through our innovative programme of state-level MoUs and a trailblazing agreement between US and UK architect regulators.
“Both these agreements will benefit British businesses, unlock huge opportunities in clean energy and technology through our MoU with Oklahoma and make it easier for our world-leading British architects to export their services across the Atlantic.
“The US is our largest trading partner, and these wins reflect our successful twin-track approach to trade with the US, strengthening links with individual states in parallel with work with the federal government.”
British American Business CEO Duncan Edwards said:
“The UK government’s state-level engagement makes good business sense. We welcome today’s signing and look forward to helping transatlantic companies develop new business ties in the state of Oklahoma.
“While these MoUs foster further trade and investment opportunities at a local level, our hope is that their success can help put trade talks at a federal level back on the agenda. “The architect MRA is the most accepted agreement ever signed by NCARB and covers three of the five largest US states by GDP; California, Illinois and Texas.”
Two more Brexit wins
This report covers two more Brexit wins for the UK. Neither would have been possible without Brexit, as trade is the “sole competence” of the bureaucrats in Brussels. Did they get a trade deal with the US as a whole? No, despite having decades to do so. Did the EU try to do these trade deals state-by-state? No.
The point about deals like today’s is not the value of each deal, but that they are ramping up. The Biden White House may be hostile to the UK but this hasn’t stopped the likes of Liz Truss from reaching out to individual states. (It should be stated that Nigel Huddleston has only been in office for two months, and the preparation for these deals takes a great deal longer than that.)
And where is the BBC on this news?
We are sure readers can guess. Nowhere. The top two articles in the ‘Global Trade’ section of the BBC’s website are “The bean that could change the Taste of Coffee” and “‘We Turned down a Client to uphold gay rights’”.
That's the good old BBC for you
If you look at what Oklahoma produces it is good news for the UK
This might spur the British Farmers to begin doing the job they are supposed to be doing instead of playing politics.
Oklahoma is one of the leading sources of beef in the country and, not surprisingly, the production of beef cattle is the leading source of agricultural income in the state.
Other important livestock products are hogs, broilers (young chickens), dairy products (milk), chicken eggs, sheep and lambs, turkeys and fish (farm-raised catfish)
Oklahoma’s most valuable crop is wheat and the state ranks among the leading producers in the country.
Greenhouse and nursery products rank second with hay, cotton, soybeans, corn for grain, pecans, grain sorghum, peanuts, watermelons, and rye following. Peaches and oats are also grown in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma’s most important mined products are, by a good margin, petroleum and natural gas. The state ranks among the leading producers in the country.
Other mined products are coal, crushed stone (limestone quarries), iodine and sand and gravel. Iodine is not produced in any other state.
The more trade deals the better in the US it’s a country that produces bumper crops in many States from wheat to oranges they have it all.
The more we import from Oklahoma and the rest the less we have to import from the EU, so much the better, seeing as the EU farming industry is in a deep decline, and the ones who are producing crops like fruit and veg which the UK imports tons of it from Spain and Italy are using slave labour to pick the fruit and veg.
There’s an idea perhaps I can investigate the slave labour in both those countrys and Portugal which offers Migrant slave workers seven years of hard labour in exchange for an EU passport.
Sources: Department for Business and Trade | Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | Nigel Huddleston MP, ]
