Press release: HMS Queen Elizabeth hosts UK-US ‘International Trade Day’ in New York

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, is today (Monday 22nd October) hosting a number of trade events to secure trading ties between UK and US businesses on board the Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth in New York.

The event takes place days after US Treasury Secretary, Robert Lighthizer, announced that the US intends to begin negotiations towards a UK-US Free Trade Agreement after the UK leaves the European Union.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) will host a roundtable bringing together a number of the UK’s world leading cyber companies will to present their technology and software to US Fortune 500 companies, in an effort to secure fruitful new deals. Businesses such as Garrison, iProov and Tessian will attend the event, all of whom have secured US business success in recent months.

Dr Fox will speak at the event, highlighting the UK’s ability to counter significant cyber threats as they continue to grow from overseas.

He will then announce the founding of a sub-committee of the Board of Trade which will look specifically at cyber, how UK companies can increase their exports in the sector and how UK-US collaboration can help tackle increasing online threats.

Capitalising upon the nautical setting, Dr Fox will join Maritime UK to host the first Maritime Nations Forum between the UK and US, focused on strengthening maritime trade and relations between the 2 countries.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox MP, said:

The United States is one of our closest allies, our largest single bilateral trading partner and we will see that bond continue to strengthen as we leave the European Union.

This ‘trade day’ will see some of the UK’s most innovative businesses meeting their US counterparts as we continue to combat growing overseas cyber threats together.

My international economic department is currently consulting on the potential of a future free trade agreement with the US, and I would strongly encourage British businesses and the public to make the most of this opportunity to share their thoughts on what this deal should include.

The Forum will celebrate existing links and identify areas for further partnership and collaboration.

UK businesses attending include ship owners, law firms, port operators, manufacturers, technical consultancies and training colleges, some of whom were involved in delivering the HMS Queen Elizabeth project.

Maritime UK Chairman, David Dingle, said:

The UK and US have a strength of relationship like few others – based upon freedom, trade and prosperity.

With the US being the largest single nation trading partner for the UK, it is logical that we proactively recommit ourselves to boosting that trading relationship and our maritime partnership.

Britain is an island, maritime nation, with 95% of global trade being facilitated by the maritime sector.

The inaugural Maritime Nations Forum aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth will allow our two nations to think creatively about new opportunities to deepen our partnership and to collaborate. We are looking forward to strengthening our special relationship, and will welcome a US delegation to the UK to join us for London International Shipping Week in 2019.

The trade day will conclude with a celebration of some of the UK’s hard-working businesses who are currently operating in the US.

A number of British companies will be presented with prestigious Board of Trade Awards by the Secretary of State, recognising their successful export activity.

Winners of the Board of Trade Awards come from a broad range of sectors, from life sciences, to the space industry and food and drink. Combined, they export their goods and services across the planet and even into space, representing the best of British innovation and entrepreneurship.

Trade between the UK and the US totalled £180.6 billion in the year to June 2018, making the US the UK’s largest single nation trading partner and export market.

British companies currently export £1.8 billion worth of cyber goods and services to the US every year, making it the largest market for their products. The UK’s recently launched Cyber Export Strategy and made a commitment to create a specialised cyber role based in the US and DIT has just launched recruitment for this.

The inaugural meeting of the ‘Atlantic Future Forum’ to discuss the trend of innovation that both the UK and US are seeing in the Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence (AI) sectors will also take place on board.

Following discussions between businesses from both countries, Dr Fox will sign a new accord with the US government, committing both governments to work with leading businesses to ensure that the UK-US partnership remains at the forefront of global cyber security, defence and AI.

Further Info

Full list of Board of Trade Award Winners:

  • Almac – the life sciences company provide a range of services such as R&D, clinical trial supply and commercial-scale manufacture, they currently employ 5000 people in 17 facilities across Europe, the US and Asia.
  • Casual Films – provide a range of directing and in-house creative services out of their London office, they also operate in New York and the Bay Area of California.
  • Fever-Tree – produce a well known range of drinks, the company currently has major operations in both the UK and the US
  • Grimshaw – this architects company employ 550 staff across the world in Los Angeles, New York, London, Melbourne, Sydney, Doha, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai – they are currently designing some of the worlds most innovative structures.
  • Onfido – this innovative company have developed an app which uses facial recognition to access digital devices – available on your phone or tablet now
  • SSTL – Surrey Satellites currently employ 500 staff who design, build, test, launch and operate technology in space, they have a 40% share of the global small satellite export market

  • Trading Hub–provide trade data analytics to the financial services industry, their clients range from international banks to regulatory institutions and asset managers – their metrics based system identifies, investigates and reports market abuse, amongst other services.