London – The U.S. and UK are expected to sign the U.S.-UK Tech Pact, a bilateral investment framework that will advance cooperation in AI, quantum, and space technology through partnerships on R&D, procurement, and skills. The Pact, which would be signed some time during President Trump’s visit to the UK this week, expands significant opportunities in the U.S.-UK digital trade relationship, which accounted for $68.5 billion in U.S. digitally-deliverable services exports to the UK in 2023 and $66 billion in UK digitally-delivered services exports to the U.S. in 2024.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association welcomes the Pact as a useful step in deepening US-UK ties. The full potential of the relationship also depends on addressing outstanding digital trade barriers in the UK, including the country’s digital services tax, concerns around the implementation of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, Online Safety Act, and Investigatory Powers Act, and opportunities to add certainty to the copyright safeguards necessary to allow for AI model training. CCIA has previously detailed principles for extending the U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal to account for such priorities, in alignment with broader concerns shared by members of Congress and industry.
CCIA has supported open markets for more than 50 years.
The following can be attributed to Matthew Sinclair, CCIA UK’s Senior Director:
“These announcements are a powerful demonstration of the scale of the AI opportunity for the UK economy. If Ministers can forge lasting technology partnerships with the U.S. and other major economies, there is every reason to be confident there will be more opportunities to secure investment and growth. There is vital work to be done to address outstanding concerns about excessive and unpredictable regulatory barriers and discriminatory taxes, but the new partnership is a valuable step towards Britain fulfilling its enormous potential in the global digital economy.”
The following can be attributed to Jonathan McHale, CCIA’s Vice President for Digital Trade:
“We welcome efforts of the U.S. and UK to advance cooperation in the digital economy, and urge following these initial steps with a sustained focus on addressing outstanding digital trade barriers, as pledged in the U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal. To harness the potential of AI, cloud, e-commerce, and other related sectors, the UK must show willingness to address obstacles in the relationship, including its discriminatory digital services tax, its burdensome implementation of online safety regulations, and its unfairly targeted digital competition framework.”
