RISHI RECHARGES TRADE
Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden shake on new economic pact tearing down trade barriers
RISHI Sunak and Joe Biden charged the batteries of the Special Relationship by shaking on an economic security pact.
The new Atlantic Declaration will see the UK and US tear down protectionist trade barriers on critical minerals vital to power electric cars.
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The accord, announced last night, will also forge closer Atlantic ties on defence spending, AI, bio-tech and space — as the West closes ranks against China.
But it comes at the cost of a post-Brexit free trade deal covering goods and services — with the PM admitting the talks were all but dead.
No10 said it was a “conscious decision” to seek the security deal in the face of the economic challenges posed by Beijing and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It also eases some of the issues caused by Mr Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that injected mass subsidies into US industry.
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And it could allow British manufacturers to qualify for some of those state hand-outs by the back door.
Electric vehicle batteries produced in the rest of the world must compete with crippling American subsidies.
The new deal will make it easier to import and export resources like lithium and cobalt that are used in the production of batteries and solar panels.
The IRA gives a subsidy of around £3,000 for each electric vehicle produced, as long as the critical minerals used are sourced from the US or a country they have an agreement with.
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Talks for the UK to qualify for this will begin immediately.
The PM said last night: “It’s natural that, when faced with the greatest transformation in our economies since the industrial revolution, we would look to each other to build a stronger economic future together.”
President Biden said: “It is a special relationship — there is no country closer to us than Great Britain.”
On the tech situation, he said: “The potential of AI is staggering. We are looking to Great Britain to help lead a way through this.
";There is no country we have greater faith in to help negotiate our way through this.”
It comes after hopes of a full-blown free trade deal were abandoned.
But Mr Sunak said: “Be in no doubt, the economic relationship has never been stronger. The trade between our countries is worth hundreds of millions of pounds and dollars every year.”
- PRESIDENT Biden last night declared Defence Secretary Ben Wallace as “a very qualified candidate” to be the next Nato chief.
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MR PRESIDENT, ER, MISTER PM
By Harry Cole
JOE Biden mistakenly called Rishi Sunak “Mr President” as they posed for photos.
The US president, 80, then corrected himself, adding: “It’s great to have you back.”
However the Prime Minister had not officially visited the White House before.
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