Chancellor on mission to strengthen trade with US

The Chancellor George Osborne has met with Wall Street investors to discuss stronger trading relationships with the UK.

In the first of a series of targeted ‘missions’ to key global financial and political centres, Osborne will urge leaders from some of America’s biggest investors to stick with the UK following its decision to leave the European Union, presenting this as a golden opportunity for them to help define an even stronger relationship with Britain.

The trading relationship between the UK and the US is a pivotal one: the US is the largest single destination for UK exports, and the UK is America’s largest trading partner in Europe. In 2014 UK exports to the US totalled £88 billion (17% of total UK exports) and last year, the UK was the US’s sixth largest trading partner.

Osborne said: “While Britain’s decision to leave the EU clearly presents economic challenges, we now have to do everything we can to make the UK the most attractive place in the world to do business.”

SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024