UK companies have announced US trade and investment deals worth more than £1.1bn that will create 1,700 new jobs in the UK as David Cameron begins talks with President Obama on global economic security.
The US accounted for 12% of our total manufacturing exports – and more than any other country in the EU – in 2014. And the US is the UK’s biggest trade partner; in 2013 exports to the US were worth nearly £90bn. The US is also the biggest investor in the UK and our trade relationship with the US continues to grow, with trade increasing by over £7bn (5.5%) in 2013.
Some of the things we export to the Americans are: £22.6m of cheddar to the USA every year; £135m worth of gin exports; selling £6m of bicycles, £3.3bn worth of cars and £33m of motorbikes; £500m of British TV programmes in the US and over £200m of Scottish Salmon to the US market.
Prime Minister David Cameron said, “With UK exports to the US increasing by over £6 billion in just one year and US companies employing a million people across the UK, our trade relationship remains one of the strongest in the world. The £1.1 billion of deals announced today will deliver concrete benefits for hard-working families, with 1,700 new jobs created around the UK stretching from Bristol to the North Sea. This is a clear vote of confidence in the UK and our long-term economic plan which is helping to safeguard our economy for the future.”
Deals announced to coincide with the trip include:
- IBEX Global anticipate that it will add over 100 jobs to their Bristol site in 2015/16.
- Carlyle International Energy Partners, is seeking to commit £660m ($1bn) of equity capital into the UK’s Oil & Gas industry in the North Sea.
- An investment to create a new £400m integrated all-weather, year round leisure, health, sport and education destination – Peak Resorts near Chesterfield. The project brings together leading hospitality, university, sport and medical expertise and offers 600 holiday apartments, hotel and hostel units with 250 woodland lodges.
- US clinical research company Quintiles will take on more work with plans to add 200 employees in the UK, bringing up their UK workforce to nearly 3,000 in 2015
- A £500k deal between London-based SME Shadow Robot and US SME Moley Robotics to develop advanced next-generation robotics hands.
- £1.3m in U.S. government funding for Watford-based Smiths Detection, for explosive detection R&D for its wearable chemical detection technology, already used by over 100,000 troops in the UK, U.S., and around the world.
- A multi-million expansion plan from global food manufacturer, Mars, of its food production facility in Kings Lynn. Mars employs nearly 4,000 people in the UK including over 200 at the Hardwick Industrial Estate site in Kings Lynn.
- A partnership between a UK development company and US firm Grand Heritage Hotel Group. It will create over 1,300 full time equivalent jobs when it opens and many more in the construction phase over the next three and half years. The investment has been led by UKTI’s newly formed Regeneration Investment Organisation and it is their first project to be agreed this year.
Other big construction projects announced include: Marriott International’s new budget line Vastint Hospitality, announcing approximately £70m in plans for new developments in Aberdeen, London’s Royal Docks, Heathrow and Stratford.
Lastly, US based video-game company, Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has set up a UK sister company in Wilmslow with plans to grow it to more than 100 employees in 2015 and beyond, with total investment at the site set to more than double from £5m to £11.9m.
