UK: Sunak To Press Biden For Free Trade Agreement In 'All But Name'

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet US President Joe Biden tomorrow as his continues his first visit to Washington DC as Prime Minister.

• A free-trade agreement is off the table but Sunak will be angling for a FTA in ‘all but name’ and an agreement on critical minerals, similar to that struck between the US and Japan, that would provide the UK's electric vehicle supply chain access to Inflation Reduction Act funds.
• Sunak said: “We need to build an alliance that also protects our economies... greater economic interoperability will give us a crucial edge in the decades ahead.”
• Bloomberg: “Sunak will call for the US and UK to raise their economic alliance to a par with their defensive one... Sunak’s office put the value of existing trade ties at an annual £279 billion ($346 billion) and touted £14 billion of what it called new investments by US companies in Britain.”
• FT: "In a world dominated by the US, China and the EU, Sunak will attempt in his two-day visit to ensure Britain’s voice is heard in debates about “de-risking” the west’s economic relationship with China and regulating artificial intelligence."