Liz Truss this morning launched the UK’s strategic approach to securing a free trade agreement with the US.
The Government hopes to ‘increase trade between both countries by £15.3 billion in the long run… and increase UK workers’ wages by £1.8 billion’. The plan says ‘Scotland is expected to be one of the parts of the UK to benefit the most’ through improved market access for salmon, whiskey, cashmere and high quality meats.
Liz Truss told BBC Breakfast this morning that the UK ‘will be prepared to walk away’ from trade talks with the US ‘if we don’t get the deal we want’. She vowed to include ‘two very clear red lines’ for negotiations so that ‘we will not diminish our food safety standards, and we will also not put the NHS on the table, or the price the NHS pays for drugs on the table’. She added that such a deal could be agreed as ‘if you take a country like Canada, it has a good deal with the United States and it has a good deal with the EU’.
The US,says the Government, is the North West’s largest export market, accounting for 13% of all the North West’s goods exports. 3,049 businesses in the North West collectively export £6,831 worth of goods to the US every minute.
Manchester-based EDM Aviation, which manufactures aviation industry training equipment, has seen strong export growth in the US over the last 5 years, and sales in the country now account for 28% of its exports.
It has developed strong relationships in US civil and defence markets and is now looking to establish a support office in the United States to grow its exports even further.
With more than 150 employees in the North West, export growth in the United States is bringing tangible benefits to the Manchester economy.
Mick Bonney, Director, Sales and Business Development at EDM Aviation, said:
“The US export market has been integral to the success of EDM Limited over recent years, having secured large contracts to supply training equipment to the military and commercial aviation sectors in the US.
“On average, 50 staff have been employed solely on US contracts over the past 10 years and we continue to expand our footprint in the region having recently secured new business with major US airlines.
“In an effort to support our rapidly expanding US customer base, we are actively seeking to establish a US Support Office, which will employ up to 5 US nationals in the Atlanta Georgia area and offer an unrivalled support network within the industry.”