Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she has discussed with her US counterpart (a) the potential merits of reducing market barriers between the UK and US and (b) increasing levels of trade with that country.

The Secretary of State regularly raises increasing trade with her counterpart. In the last year, we’ve reduced market barriers through resolving the Large Civil Aircraft dispute, lifting the ban on the import of British beef and lamb, and removing tariffs on UK steel and aluminium. Removing the steel and aluminium tariffs support 80,000 jobs across the UK. At the recent Trade Dialogues, both parties agreed to develop a roadmap for further UK-US Trade. In parallel to our federal US strategy, the UK has signed two state-level MOUs that seek to reduce market barriers and hope to sign more in the coming months.