US-UK Deal Overlooks Trade Barriers, Leaves Tariffs in Place, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following President Trump’s announcement on a new trade agreement with the United Kingdom, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Rodrigo Balbontin, associate director covering trade, IP, and digital technology governance:

The trade deal announcement between the United States and the United Kingdom does not seem to focus on reducing the UK's trade barriers. One example is the UK Digital Services Tax (DST), a two percent tax directly targeted at U.S. technology companies, as it has thresholds on global revenues.

Reducing trade barriers, particularly with allies, should have been the top priority. Instead, the US-UK agreement will leave Liberation Day's 10 percent reciprocal tariffs untouched, and arguably, besides chemicals, there is no focus on advanced technology industries.

President Trump is correct in his assessment that there is much to do to deepen the economic cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom. His statement, "there is more we can do in reducing tariffs and trade barriers so as to open up our markets to each other even more," should be taken at its word.

Contact: Austin Slater, [email protected]