President Donald Trump and Prime Minister of Great Britain Sir Keir Starmer signed on Thursday what the latter called a “ground-breaking” new technology prosperity agreement between the UK and the US.
Praising the commitments, Starmer said the “deals and investments announced today are record-breaking.”
“What a day, £250 billion [340 billion dollars] “Flowing in both directions across the Atlantic,” Starmer said, “it's the largest investment package of its kind in British history by a country mile.”
The deal focuses on investments in artificial intelligence. Starmer announces significant investment from companies including Nvidia, Nscale, OpenAI, Google and Salesforce, which will create “cutting-edge British jobs for years to come”. (Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is the owner and co-chairman of TIME.)
Starmer said the investment was expected to create up to 15,000 jobs.
The deal, which Starmer called “the blueprint for winning this new era”, also includes commitments to the energy sector.
“To fuel this revolution, we have a new civil nuclear power deal,” he said, adding that 12 new state-of-the-art nuclear reactors are planned for the north-east of England, which will provide the ability to generate power “for millions of homes and businesses, leading to lower bills on both sides of the Atlantic and increased energy security.”
A press release 10 Downing Street called the deal “the largest commercial package ever concluded during a state visit, highlighting the strength of the UK-US economic partnership.”
According to the report, a $30 billion investment from Microsoft, along with $6.8 billion from Google and other artificial intelligence investment packages, will be funneled into the UK's tech sector to expand data centers, research labs and fund plans to build “the country's largest supercomputer in partnership with Nscale.”
The deal looks set to strengthen the position of US AI companies as the backbone of the UK AI industry. during the global race dominate technology.
Starmer said U.S. companies had pledged to invest 150 billion pounds ($204 billion) in the United Kingdom, including 90 billion pounds ($122 billion) from investment firm Blackstone over the next 10 years. The pharmaceutical company GSK invested almost $30 billion in the United States.
“Quantum computing fusion, 6G and civil nuclear power” are all areas Trump said are at the center of the deal, which aims to boost “deregulation and innovation.”
Trump took the opportunity to once again praise the “special” relationship between the US and UK.
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“It's an unbreakable bond that we have. No matter what we do today, I think it's unbreakable,” he remarked.
“The United States and Great Britain have done more good on this planet than any two countries in the history of mankind,” the president said at a press briefing after the signing. Starmer echoed those remarks, saying the relationship between the US and UK had “shaped the world”.
Trump also thanked Starmer and his wife Victoria for welcoming him to Checkers, the British prime minister's country retreat.
He went on to pay tribute to King Charles III and Queen Camilla for hosting him and Melania at Windsor Castle, and said he will always be grateful to the king for a “fantastic” time at the state banquet.
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This is not the first time Trump and Starmer have celebrated the “special” UK-US relationship by working out a mutually beneficial deal. World leaders announced a trade agreement between the UK and the US in May.
At the time, Trump said the agreement reaffirms that “reciprocity and fairness are important and vital principles of international trade.”
Trump said he would maintain his basic tariff of 10% on most goods coming from the UK to the US. The deal opened the UK market to US exports including ethanol, agriculture and machinery, and eliminated tariffs on steel and aluminum between the two countries. “They will also expedite American goods through the customs process, so our exports go through a very, very fast approval process. There will be no bureaucratic red tape,” Trump said about the partnership with the UK.
Starmer called the agreement “historic” on the day it was unveiled, adding that it “benefits British businesses and protects UK jobs.”
Recalling the trade agreement during a press briefing on Thursday, Trump praised the benefits for the U.S. economy, particularly the opportunities for American farmers.
“The United Kingdom became the first country to have a trade agreement with the United States during my second term, and we kind of wanted to do it first because that connection is so strong,” he said. “This agreement will create billions of dollars of opportunity for US farmers to sell their products to the UK, reduce trade barriers and give US manufacturers better access to the UK's world-class aerospace supply chain.”
