Downing Road says the UK stays in “energetic conversations with US counterparts in any respect ranges of presidency” a few wide-ranging tech deal.
The BBC understands talks over the Expertise Prosperity Deal have stalled due to US considerations about what it considers to be wider UK commerce obstacles.
Billed as “historic” when it was unveiled throughout US President Donald Trump’s state go to in September, the partnership noticed each international locations pledge to co-operate additional in areas similar to AI and quantum computing.
“We’re assured of securing a deal that can form the way forward for hundreds of thousands on each side of the Atlantic,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman mentioned.
He mentioned he wouldn’t remark instantly on what have been “stay” discussions however added “negotiations of this sort are by no means easy”.
The New York Occasions – which first reported the story – mentioned there have been “broader disagreements” between the 2 sides, together with over digital laws and meals security guidelines.
The UK authorities didn’t touch upon these particular claims. The White Home has not responded to the BBC’s request for a remark.
Nonetheless, Trump’s science adviser Michael Kratsios on Tuesday night mentioned the administration hoped to restart talks over the deal.
“Consistent with Part III of the US-UK Expertise Prosperity Deal, we hope to renew work with the UK as soon as the UK has made substantial progress in implementing its commitments underneath the Financial Prosperity Deal,” Kratsios wrote on X.
“We look ahead to persevering with our productive collaboration throughout AI, quantum, nuclear, and different essential know-how areas underneath the Deal.”
When the deal was introduced the federal government was eager to focus on the advantages it mentioned it might carry.
“This Tech Prosperity Deal marks a generational step change in our relationship with the US,” Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer mentioned in a press release.
Expertise secretary Liz Kendall mentioned the partnership would “rework lives throughout Britain” and was a “vote of confidence in Britain’s booming AI sector.”
On the similar time the deal was revealed, a sequence of US tech companies introduced a flurry of funding within the UK.
A complete of £31bn in deliberate spending was set out by tech giants together with Microsoft, Nvidia and Google.
It’s believed these funding plans are unaffected.
Google, Microsoft and Nvidia have additionally been approached for remark, however the companies haven’t but responded to the BBC.
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang mentioned in September his firm’s UK funding mirrored his perception it might develop into an “AI superpower” – an ambition championed by Sir Keir’s authorities.
It mentioned funding introduced by tech companies alongside the Tech Prosperity Deal can be used to scale-up AI infrastructure similar to information centres, throughout the UK.
The tech pact was documented in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which mentioned each international locations would search to collaborate throughout AI, quantum computing and nuclear energy.
It mentioned this might embody working collectively to construct “highly effective quantum machines,” assist innovation in AI {hardware} and discover potential new methods to make use of superior nuclear power.
However the MOU additionally states any proposals will not be binding and that it solely “turns into operative alongside substantive progress being made to formalise and implement” the broader US-UK Financial Prosperity Deal, signed in Could.
The Trump administration has sought to rewrite the worldwide guidelines on commerce, imposing tariffs on many international locations – together with conventional allies just like the UK – and looking for new offers which it argues are fairer to the US.
For the UK that has meant haggling over varied sectors of the financial system, a course of which has yielded agreements on vehicles and extra lately, prescribed drugs.
Nonetheless, a proposed deal to get rid of tariffs on UK metal exports to the US has been placed on maintain indefinitely, the BBC understands.
Allie Renison, director of communications agency SEC Newgate UK and a former authorities commerce adviser, mentioned the present deadlock over tech mirrored the US and UK’s “barely piecemeal strategy” to inking commerce offers.
“As a substitute of getting all the pieces accomplished directly, totally different areas are being linked to totally different elements,” she informed the BBC – noting how considerations about separate commerce areas might now be affecting tech agreements.
Whereas questions hung over what the potential roadblocks might imply for US tech companies’ pledged investments within the UK, Ms Renison added, it was unlikely to be little greater than “a little bit of posturing within the wider negotiations”.
Further reporting by Michael Race and Philippa Wain
