UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and U.S President Joe Biden have unveiled the Atlantic Declaration to strengthen economic ties between the two countries.
The pair unveiled the declaration at a White House press conference.
“The Atlantic Declaration establishes a new benchmark for economic cooperation, launching our economies into the future so we can jointly safeguard our citizens, generate jobs, and expand our economies.” Sunak clarified.
The Atlantic Declaration includes commitments on easing trade barriers, closer defence industry ties and a data protection deal and steps up co-operation on AI.
Sunak said the agreement, which falls short of a full trade deal would bring benefits as quickly as possible.
As the pair unveiled their partnership to bolster economic security, Mr Sunak said the UK-US relationship was an “indispensable alliance“.
UK firms could gain access to US green funding while UK electric car firms may get access to US green tax credits and subsidies.
Mr Sunak said the deal “responds to particular challenges and opportunities we face right now”.
He insisted the more targeted approach of the declaration was about “what can do the most benefit to our citizens as quickly as possible”.
Mr Biden said the special relationship with the UK was in “real good shape”.
He added “Together we are providing economic and humanitarian aid and security systems to Ukraine in their fight against a brutal invasion from Russia,” he said.
The Atlantic Declaration includes plans to mitigate some of the impact of the US flagship Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on the UK economy, with proposals to remove barriers which affected trade in electric vehicle batteries.
The Atlantic Declaration commits the UK and US to working on a new critical minerals agreement – which would give buyers of vehicles made using critical minerals processed, recycled or mined by UK companies access to tax credits.
The declaration says the agreement would be launched after consultation with US Congress.
