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UK-US Trade and Tariffs

I congratulate the Minister on her appointment. This is our first interaction. We served on the GREAT campaign advisory council for many years until her ministerial appointment. I am reassured to hear that the Government want to be cool, calm and collected. I am also reassured that the Government are doing their best to try to get a deal with the United States of America. Donald Trump likes deals, so let us try to get one with President Trump.

However, although the United States has £300 billion-plus of trade with the UK, we have £126 billion in services exports to the US—a huge services surplus that nobody talks about—which is not applicable for these tariffs. We should make the most of that strength. Even in goods, we have a small surplus. But the United States is only 13% of the world’s trade. Surely we should work with the other 87% of countries around the world to make sure that we continue with the rules-based multilateral trading system.

Secondly, the Minister mentioned growth, and I will raise one of the best ways to generate growth. I am chair of the International Chamber of Commerce here, ICC UK. The ICC is the largest business organisation in the world, with 45 million members. Before these tariffs were announced, we laid out a plan for growth that could unlock £25 billion in trade growth. By digitising trade, we can take what takes three months on a paper-based trade down to one hour. Why do we not, as leaders, champion digital trade around the world and take a leadership role in these turbulent times?