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British trade minister Liz Truss has said the United States tops
her priority list for post-Brexit trade deals and has been in
Washington this week, along with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab,
to promote UK-US ties.
Imports from the United States increased by 14% to 78.27 billion
pounds ($94.43 billion) in the year to April, the Department for
Trade said, while imports from Germany fell by 0.1% to 78.26
billion pounds.
While Germany has long been Britain's biggest source of imports,
the United States was already Britain's largest export market,
with exports reaching a record high of 121.6 billion pounds in
the last financial year.
"Now that the U.S. is our largest market for both exports and
imports, there has never been a better time for us to make the
most of this golden opportunity and deliver a free trade
agreement with the US," Truss said in a statement.
The trade department said financial services imports from the
United States had grown by 15% since 2018, with transatlantic
trade in services worth more than 55 billion pounds annually to
both countries.
During her four-day visit to Washington and New York, Truss met
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary
of Commerce Wilbur Ross, as well as senior officials and figures
from Congress and businesses.
The trade department also said Britain's Royal Air Force Red
Arrows aerobatic team, famed for their aerial displays at
military and royal occasions, had this week begun a three-month
tour of North America to promote British trade and defense in
more than 25 cities across the US and Canada.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Stephen Addison)
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