UK (Commonwealth Union) _ Britain and Washington, a U.S. state, signed a memorandum of understanding on trade on Monday. A top official indicated that a similar agreement may be made shortly with Florida.
After leaving the European Union, Britain had planned to reach a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement with the United States. However, since President Joe Biden halted all negotiations for free trade accords, the British government has focused on state-level deals.
“The next state on the list is Florida. That should be finished soon,” said Nusrat Ghani, a junior commerce and trade minister, in a phone interview with media from Seattle. She added that discussions were also taking place in other large states, including Texas, California, Colorado, and Illinois.
The expansion of commercial relations with Washington and other U.S. states, according to Ghani, who is traveling with 70 business leaders from 35 UK companies, offers “a huge potential for collaboration” due to shared industrial interests.
With Boeing’s headquarters in the state, she said the aerospace industry would be a top emphasis under the Washington MoU, but other potential deal-making sectors included clean energy, the life sciences, supply chains, and agriculture. Aviation is of enormous importance, according to Ghani, who also emphasized the significant part British companies’ play in the aerospace supply chain.
However, the terms of a formal free trade agreement (FTA) can only be discussed with the federal government, notwithstanding Britain’s claims that the MoU will encourage capital investment and open up new economic ties.
The MoU with Washington is the sixth such pact with a state in the United States. Ghani and the UK business leaders met the supply chain and procurement teams during a Boeing supplier expo. Washington State is the state with the 11th highest gross domestic product (GDP) and is also the location of Amazon, Starbucks, and Microsoft.
According to Britain, the six U.S. states covered by the MoUs have a combined GDP of more than 2 trillion pounds ($2.4 trillion). The Washington metropolitan area, which includes the District of Columbia and portions of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia, had one of the greatest metropolitan economies in the country as of 2023. Professional and commercial services positions, in addition to more conventional employment, are becoming more prevalent in its expanding and diverse economy.
Washington D.C.’s gross domestic output per capita continuously rated among the highest in the nation between 2009 and 2016. Its GDP per capita, which was $160,472 in 2016, was about three times higher than Massachusetts’s, which was the second-highest in the country. The metro statistical area had a 3.1% unemployment rate as of 2022, placing it 171st out of 389 metro areas as determined by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
With a median household income of $92,266 in 2019, Washington D.C. has the highest level in the United States. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, and other international institutions have their headquarters in the city, which also houses 177 foreign embassies. AARP, American Red Cross, Atlantic Council, Brookings Institution, National Geographic Society, The Heritage Foundation, Wilson Center, and many more of the largest business associations, nonprofits, and think tanks in the country have offices in the city.
The state’s economic growth has been aided in the 20th century by tourism, business, construction, international banking, biomedical and life sciences, healthcare research, simulation training, aerospace and defense, and commercial spaceflight.
Florida’s economy is mostly based on agriculture and tourism. The Magic Kingdom, the theme park with the most visitors worldwide, is located in Florida. Walt Disney World, the largest single-site employment in the US, is also located in Florida. Finance, government and military, healthcare, aerospace (particularly in the Space Coast), mining (particularly for phosphate in Bone Valley), fishing, trade, real estate, and tech (particularly in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa in the 2020s) are additional significant economic sectors in Florida.
