U.S. halts UK tech trade deal negotiations, FT reports
The Financial Times reports that the US has halted a technology trade deal with the UK after officials in Washington were disappointed with the pace of progress. reported on Tuesday.
The “technology prosperity agreement”, announced during President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK in September, is a comprehensive agreement aimed at encouraging cooperation between countries on technologies such as artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion and quantum computing.
At the time, Trump said the agreement would “ensure our countries lead shoulder to shoulder through the next great technological revolution.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the deal was a “generational change in our relationship with the US” and would bring “growth, security and opportunity to every part of the country”.
According to FT’s report, based on unnamed British officials, the talks were suspended by the USA last week.
Asked to comment on the report, a UK government spokesperson told CNBC: “Our special relationship with the US remains strong, and the UK is committed to ensuring the Technology Prosperity Deal delivers opportunity for hard-working people in both countries.”
The agreement will create AI-supported research programs in areas including the development of models and datasets in shared priorities such as artificial intelligence for biotechnology, precision medicine for cancer and rare and chronic diseases, and fusion energy, the two countries said in September.
This comes after the UK signed deals totaling £31 billion ($41 billion) with US tech firms including Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI and CoreWeave to build the country’s artificial intelligence infrastructure. The USA is the UK’s largest trading partner.
The US Department of Commerce has been approached for comment.
